The Chronicles of Naruto and Tsunade
by Shining Pheonix
Summary: The battle between the Yondaime and Kyuubi. Tsunade doesn't leave Konoha, instead, she stays behind to take care of Naruto after the Yondaime's death.
1. Chapter 1

**The Chronicles of Naruto and Tsunade:**

**Kyuubi's assault**

"Arashi, please reconsider this!"

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-oba-chan, but this is something that only I can do. Unless something is done about the Kyuubi, all of our beautiful hometown will be destroyed, and Keisha's sacrifice will be for nothing."

"Even still, think of your son, what will happen to him if you go through with this!"

Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin, was arguing with her nephew, Arashi, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagokure. Tsunade was trying her best to keep her nephew, one of the few family members she had left, from sacrificing his life to seal away the Kyuubi in his own son with the fatal Shiki-Fuujin Ritual.

"That is why I asked for you to stay here, Naruto is going to need a home and family after I finish this, and not someone who will look down on him because of what's sealed inside of him. He's going to need a parent, and I know that you will make a good one for him, Obaa-chan. Anyways, my mind is made up, I'm going to seal the demon, and I hope that whatever was done to him to make him this way will be lifted when I use the seal."

With this, Arashi walked out of the room that held his child, and soon-to-be Oni vessel, and called his summons boss, Gamabunta.

"Everything is ready here; it's time for us to do our duty Gamma." Arashi called to the giant toad.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this gaki? You know that there is no going back." The toad boss asked his friend. Obviously, the toad was the one with the second thoughts, and not the ninja.

"I'm sure; I even got the old woman to agree to take Naru-chan. There isn't anything left unfinished, and I'll see Keisha again soon. Let's go face our destiny, and the destiny of our home! Let's go Gamabunta!" the nin yelled.

The toad boss and the Hokage raced to the battlefield, and stared at the carnage. Bodies and weapons lay everywhere, covered in blood and burns, the fox had caused so much damage, Arashi doubted that the villagers would ever come to trust the kitsune ever again, even after all that it had done for them in the past. The sounds of battle were growing ever greater as Arashi and Gamabunta continued across the field. The scene that greeted them was horrific. Shinobi were everywhere, all of them covered in blood. Many lay wounded on the ground, others, still able to stand, were throwing weapons at the giant nine-tailed kitsune before them. All of the ninja rallied, and fought harder, now that their beloved leader, the Yondaime Hokage, was with them again.

"The Yondaime is here, we can beat this thing!" many cheered.

Arashi smiled grimly, he wished that he could do such a thing as defeat this Oni before him as his ninja hoped he could. He started forming hand seals, as the frog boss grabbed the Kyuubi, not before receiving a gash across an eye.

"Kyuubi! For your crimes against Konoha, I seal you! SHIKI-FUUJIN!" Arashi screamed at the top of his voice.

The Shinigami reached through the Hokage, grabbing the fox's soul. Kyuubi screamed in pain and agony, struggling as best he could to get away from the seal chamber he saw for himself on the far side of the Shinigami's grasp. Arashi gritted his teeth, pulling the demon to the seal with all his strength. Finally, when it seemed that the fox just might break free, Arashi pulled the demon through the seal with one mighty pull, a flash of light locking the fox in place for good. His task completed, the ninja felt as if his entire body was being ripped apart. _Not to far from the truth, I imagine_, he thought. With all of his strength spent, the great Yondaime Hokage, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, passed from this world to the next in peace.

Across town, in the Hokage's tower, a small baby with a strange seal on his stomach and blond hair on his head started crying. Tsunade walked over and picked up the baby, certain that the ceremony was finished. "Hush now, little one, I'm here for you." She spoke in a soft voice.

A/N: What do you think? It's my first attempt at a pure Naruto story, so I'm not sure whether to leave it as a one-shot or extend it, so please review!


	2. Raising a new Hero

**The Chronicles of Naruto and Tsunade:**

**Chapter Two: Raising a New Hero**

Tsunade sat back in her overstuffed armchair and sighed. It had been a long week, but somehow she had managed to get through them with the minimum of fuss. She still couldn't believe that it had been nearly three months since her nephew, Arashi, sealed the Kyuubi into the small infant she was currently holding in her arms. Looking on the child, she smiled, even with all that she had to do both at the hospital and helping out her old sensei in running the village, she never had a day that couldn't be brightened by the three month old. Even the blizzard outside seemed subdued by the small fire in her fireplace, the bottle of formula warming on the stove, the chair she always sat in while feeding Naruto, and the child himself.

It was the worst winter that Konoha had had in 40 years, and many of the inhabitants were doing just what Tsunade herself was doing, hiding inside away from the bitter cold. Again the medic-nin leaned back into the chair and smiled, thinking of what had made her leave her warm home seven full hours ago. Hyuuga Hikari, the wife of Hyuuga Hyashi, had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, that they had named Hinata. She had been asked to personally assist with the delivery. Even if it hadn't been one of the princes of Konoha who had asked her, she would have gladly have gone to help.

Naruto gave a small yawn, and looked up at the medic, reminding her that she still hadn't fed him yet. With a chuckle, she picked the bottle up off of the stove and sat back down; giving the child the bottle he was reaching for so desperately. Tsunade again chuckled; the little guy just never seemed to stop eating. It reminded her a lot of what Arashi was like when he was small, always wanting to sneak out for another bowl of ramen, and to visit the love of his life, Uchiha Keisha. Despite the fact that Naruto's mother was from the legendary red-eyed clan, his eyes remained a deep cerulean blue, part of his father's family line showing through, the medic supposed. Tsunade thought back to what the elder's council had told her, that she didn't have to worry about the Uchiha clan coming to try and claim her Naru-chan, as the current clan's head already had a son who could claim the title as heir, and the head's wife was expecting her second child, due any time now. Besides, the council told her, with blue eyes, how could the child ever hope to activate the legendary Sharingan eye? Tsunade had her own thoughts on that little issue, but she let the matter slide.

With little warning, wind and snow started to blow through the house. "Shizune, close the door, I nearly had him asleep!" Tsunade said to her assistant, who just walked in the door.

"My apologies, Tsunade-sama, but I just came back from the hospital, and Uchiha-hime is in labor, the staff wants you there to help!" The young aid proclaimed to her superior.

Tsunade seemed to sink visibly. _It's going to be another one of those days again, _she thought bitterly. "Okay, I'm going. Can you stay here to watch Naru-chan for me? I know you don't normally watch any of the children…?" Tsunade asked her aid.

"Of course I can, please just hurry; they don't know how long they can stall labor!"

Tsunade grabbed her coat and ran towards the door. "I'll be back before nine; Naru-chan should be going to sleep sometime around six, so he won't be up much longer." With those parting instructions, the legendary medic Sannin of Konoha ran out the door.

Shizune stared at the infant in question, something of dread crossing her face. "So, umm, what do you want to do Naru-chan?" she asked the infant nervously.

Said infant stared back at her with pale blue eyes, seeming to ask her the exact same question.

Seven Hours Later

Tsunade walked balk into her house, noticing that the fire in the fireplace hadn't been stoked in several hours. As she walked toward the fireplace to place another log on the fire, she noticed Shizune asleep in her chair, with Naruto curled up in her lap, also out. Tsunade just smiled, and placed an oversized quilt over Shizune and placed Naruto in his crib in her room. After placing another log on the fire and closing the screen, Tsunade lay down on her bed and fell asleep, finding contentment in her own little corner of the universe.

A/N: What do you think? I know that making Naruto a relative of the Uchiha clan is a bit of a stretch, but it sets up something I have in mind for later. Also, I have decided on whom I want Tsunade to hook up with in the end, but I'm having trouble deciding on who Naruto is finally going to pair up with. The choices I can think of are: Hinata, Temari, female Haku (I really can't see Haku as male), or an OC. Please vote via review!

Ever rising from the ashes, Shining Pheonix signing out!


	3. Jirarya's Return

**Chapter 3: Jirarya's Return**

The following summer, Tsunade started hearing disturbing rumors about her two former team-mates. Orochimaru, she heard, had started his own hidden village specifically to fight against his former home. Tsunade could only hope that these rumors weren't true, but knowing her ex-teammates' tendency toward holding severe grudges, she couldn't see him not jumping at the chance to get back at his former home.

Jirarya, both fortunately and not, was more traceable. It seemed the toad summoner had picked up his sensei's perverted habits, as well as beginning to author his own series of perverted novels. Tsunade grimaced; she was getting tired of chasing around all of the onsen in town just to deal with 'an unidentified person' peaking in the women's bath. Personally, she had yet to catch Jirarya 'in the act', but she had come close several times, arriving on the other side of the hole in the fence just in time to see the smoke vanish.

Tsunade rounded the corner to Ichiraku Ramen Stand, an old favorite of hers and Arashi's, a restaurant that she took him to for graduating from the academy, and were she had left Naruto in the care of the owner's granddaughter, Ayme. The toddler in question looked up from his chair behind the counter, looking at her with the pupiless blue eyes she had grown to love. "Was he any problem for you Ayme?" Tsunade asked the young girl.

"None at all, Tsunade-sama. In fact, he can be pretty darn quiet with a bowl of ramen to keep him occupied!" the waitress in training proclaimed.

Tsunade resisted the urge to sweat drop, she really didn't want Naruto growing up with the same addiction to ramen that Arashi had, and both Ayme and Shizune were putting a massive dent in her efforts.

"So _this_ little guy is Naruto! Have to admit he looks almost exactly like Arashi, except with the whiskers and the eyes. I'd put money that he'd make a great Hokage one day!"

Both Ayme and Tsunade nearly jumped out of their skins at the sound of a voice that just appeared out of nowhere. Tsunade, partially regaining her composure, looked to her left and saw none other than Jirarya, laughing at the plight of the two. Even more embarrassing to the girls was the fact that Naruto seemed to be laughing _with_ the perverted Sannin.

"Jirarya! Just where have _you _been for three years! And don't you dare tell me you were doing 'research' for those dirty novels of yours!" Tsunade exclaimed angrily at her former teammate.

"Ah-hem, well, I erm, you see…, " Jirarya sputtered, trying to escape the legendary wrath of the medic-nin in front of him.

"Bah, I've had enough of a day trying to hunt you down. Come, I'll drop Naru-chan off with Shizune and you and I are going to catch up." Tsunade picked Naruto up from his chair, setting down a check for Ayme.

"Come on, Naru-chan; well take you to Shizune for a nap. How does that sound?" the woman asked, obviously teasing the toddler.

All Naruto seemed to be able to do in response was nod his head up and down energetically, not yet having mastered speech. After a quick drop by the Hokage's tower, were Shizune spent her afternoons helping with the medic team, the two Sannin quietly slipped into an empty both in the closest bar. Jirarya seemed absolutely impressed by the lack of drunken brawling or shouting in the bar. _Must be the ANBU's favorite hideout_. Jirarya thought, noticing several of the black ops members scattered around the establishment, many were surprisingly _not_ sporting the traditional mask that seemed to denote military positions within their ranks.

Tsunade called his attention back to her with a tap on his glass. "I said do you want any?" she repeated, holding up the sake bottle for emphasis.

"Sure," he replied. "Been a long time between cups for me. How's life been like for you? I heard that you decided to settle down a bit to help out sensei and to raise the kid back there?" he asked, pulling out a deck of cards.

"It's not been that bad, at least I haven't accepted sensei's offer to become a Hokage yet. He offered the job to me the day after Arashi died, said that it wasn't worth it to him to keep on going and dealing with all of these 'meddlesome new Chunin'." She replied, accepting a handoff cards from him, a king of hearts, an ace of hearts, the jack of diamonds, the ten of hearts, and the nine of clubs.

"Why didn't you accept then? Would have saved the old man a lot of trouble in the long run. Not to mention give you access to some decent pay to help take care of the kid." He asked, also drawing a hand, the aces of diamonds and clubs, the three of spades, and the two of hearts.

"I could have, but it would have got me nowhere. After all, I'm still the number one medic nin in the village, everyone seems to expect me to be at the hospital. To be honest, being a medic pays well, better than many people truly expect it to, and Shizune is working on me to cure me of my gambling habit. She isn't succeeding very well, but she is trying. But how about you, I've heard that you're on your way to becoming a successful author in the adult novel business, how's that going?" she asked him back, while dropping the jack and nine.

"Better than I had hoped, actually. You would be surprised at how many people are in to that kind of thing. I got a big amount of business from the ninja community, and a producer is thinking about making the first book into a movie." He replied, dropping all his cards except for the aces.

Tsunade picked up two cards, and suddenly started talking business. "One hand of showdown, I win, you stay, you win, and I'll quit chasing you from onsen. Deal?" she offered.

Jirarya picked up three cards, the remaining ace and two queens. "Deal!" he agreed.

Smiling sinisterly, Tsunade laid down her cards. "Read em' and weep, royal flush!" she proclaimed, beating Jirarya's full house hands down.

"I think you're going to need a place to stay for a while, Jirarya-kun…"

**A/N: A special thank you goes out to all of you who are reviewing, and keep them coming. Voting for pairings ends at 2:30pm, Eastern Daylight Time on October 12, 2006. If you keep up with this fic to it's end, you'll make me one happy Pheonix!**


	4. Forging an Alliance

**The results are in:**

**Hinata: 8**

**Temari:11**

**Haku: 2**

**Chapter 4: Forming an Alliance**

It had been nearly two years since Tsunade had won her little card game with Jirarya, and she regretted it ever since. After getting Jirarya a house of his own, the perverted Sannin started causing all sorts of trouble in the local onsen. Tsunade groaned, she had spent the entire morning today chasing Jirarya away from the bath houses, making it nearly impossible for her to get both herself and Naruto ready in time to meet the Kazekage and his family from Suna. The Kazekage was coming to Konoha to strengthen the alliance between the two villages.

Why was Tsunade, currently a simple medic ninja, and a mere three year child being asked to meet with the leader of a major power in the ninja world? Sarutobi, the current Hokage, told her that the meeting was going to concern her and Naruto, but he didn't elaborate any further than that. Tsunade was slightly nervous of what was happening, but not nervous enough to question her former sensei on the subject. Speaking of the three year old, Naruto ran down the stairs of Tsunade's two story home dressed in his orange and black hakama. Rather, he was _half_ dressed in his orange and black hakama, he had the pants on, but the shirt and jacket were held in his left hand and his zori in his right, laughing as he ran toward Tsunade. The medic chuckled, even if it made them late, the child's display was well worth the laugh.

After getting Naruto into his hakama, Tsunade and Naruto were in the Hokage's tower, standing in front of the Kazekage and his family. At least, Tsunade was standing in front of the Kazekage; Naruto was hiding behind her legs, peaking around them to see the three children who were also attending the meeting between the powerful ninja villages. Temari, also hiding behind her parent's leg, stared at the whisker faced boy.

"Naru-chan, say something!" Tsunade chided, causing Naruto to look up to her. "Go on!" she told him with a smile.

"H-hello, T-temari-san!" Naruto stuttered, blushing bright red.

Temari giggled, the poor boy was utterly shy in a situation like this, and she was enjoying the look on his face. _He is kinda cute_. Temari thought, smiling back at the boy. Temari's brothers, on the other hand, were not as impressed with the boy at first meeting as she was. After further introductions were made all around, Sarutobi offered everyone to follow him to the rooftop, were he had several Chunin set up a table. "So, Kazekage-sama, what do you think of the treaty? It will cost both sides a little initially, but I think that it would work out better in the long run." The Hokage asked his opposite number.

"I think that the treaty is sound, but I think that it would be better to seal the deal a little more, well, permanently, than with just a mere piece of paper, don't you agree, Hokage-sama?" the leader of the Village Hidden in Sand placed his chin on his hands as he stared at the elder Shinobi.

"In what way were you planning, surely you don't mean to go through with that old custom? Even I can see that it doesn't work very well!"

As realization set in, Tsunade's eyes grew to the size of large dinner plates. _They can't really be planning on arranging a marriage, can they? Using that for sealing a deal hasn't been used for nearly a hundred years!_ Tsunade ranted inside her skull.

"I only suggest it as a means for placating some of my country's more conservative council members. They seem to want everything done in the old style, including this. I'm not suggesting that you agree to the arrangement right off hand, but do think it over. That's why I brought my children with me. I had planned on letting Temari and Naruto getting to know each other a bit more before we decide on using that course of action. I'm sure we can placate the Suna elders in some other way." The Kazekage seemed to be trying to stare down the elderly Hokage, as if daring him to object from this turn of events.

"I propose that we let the children get to know each other, if Tsunade doesn't object to this course of action?" Sarutobi asked, looking at his former pupil.

"I don't think your being fair to the children, forcing them together like this at such a young age, but if the final decision won't be made until after they get to know each other, then I will agree, but only if I think that the marriage could survive." Tsunade answered, dropping into a more motherly role than normal.

"Then it's decided! My children will spend one month here getting to know Naruto, and Naruto will get to spend one month in Suna getting to know my children and their home better!" the Kazekage declared, apparently very pleased with Tsunade's decision.

--The Next Day—

Naruto picked up his bag, smiling. He was going on a hike through the forests with the Suna Sibs, looking for medicinal herbs for his Oba-san. He didn't get to look for herbs by himself very much, more or less because he was so small and there were natural enemies to a lone small boy in the forests, but in a group of four they could go anywhere he wanted (well, almost, he is only three!).

When Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro finally met Naruto at the front door, the kitsune boy was bouncing up and down with energy, rearing to go.

"C'mon, C'mon, C'mon! Let's go already!" Naruto exclaimed, ready to make tracks.

"Alright, we're coming! Just calm down a bit!" Temari said between giggles, getting a good laugh out of watching the blond boy bouncing all over the place.

"Please don't say that you're going to be this hyper the entire day." Gaara said.

"No, just until we get going! So come on!" the hyperactive kitsune replied.

With lunch packed for them by Tsunade, and a stern warning to be back before three o' clock, the four kids made tracks for Konoha's forests.

**A/N: What do you think? The next chapter is going to be about the Suna Sibs in Konoha and the chapter after that about Naruto's adventure in Suna. Next chapter I plan to reveal a little about Naruto's powers, and I think those of you who asked me about the Mokuten bloodline are going to be pleased. Please R&R!**

**Your fledgling author,**

**Shining Pheonix.**


	5. Just a Walk in the Woods

**Chapter 5: Just a walk in the Woods**

Naruto straitened up from picking a mushroom, his small backpack already full to the brim with herbs and mushrooms. About two yards away, Temari was picking another plant, her pack just as full as Naruto's. Gaara was about three yards on Naruto's other side, picking mushrooms with his sand. Kankuro was picking herbs from the higher to reach treetops with his puppets. Naruto smiled, it had been a morning well spent, and Oba-chan would be happy that they brought back so many medicinal plants. She always seemed to be running out of them at the wrong time; it was just too hard to hunt for plants like these when you needed to be at the hospital taking care of patients.

The group had been out hunting medicinal herbs the entire morning, leaving Tsunade to get some much needed charting done. "Hey, is 'nybody hu'gry?" Naruto asked. (A/N: This and the following aren't spelling errors; I'm trying to capture how three year olds speak.)

"Hai, food soun's good!" Kankuro readily agreed.

"I say we sit down for minuet." Temari said, already setting her back pack.

"We don' need to cook any thing, do we?" Gaara asked, surprisingly the clearest speaker of the group.

"Nope, 'ba-chan packed us san'wiches! No need to cook nuthing!" Naruto said back.

The group found several logs of sitting height and, after a little rolling around, had them in a rough triangle, all facing each other. "Think we got 'nough, Naru-kun?" Temari asked.

"I think so, 'ba-chan didn' say how much she wan'ed, but I think all of us got 'neogh to make her 'appy!" the whisker faced boy answered.

While the four chibi adventurers were eating lunch, a wolf pack perked up. Wolves were common in Konoha; in fact there were several clans who raised wolves as well as dogs as companions for combat. This particular wolf pack wasn't one of those. These were the wild wolves that knew nothing of the nin-wolves, and attacked anything that could possibly be eaten as prey. These wolves smelled the meat in the kids' sandwiches, and decided that anything that smelled that good had to be good to eat as well. The pack began moving toward the source of that wonderful smell, preparing to take down whatever animals had that scent. The pack was going to eat well tonight!

The wolves were just about ten yards away from our cute hikers before they noticed anything wrong. Even then, they initially had thoughts like _What a big puppy!_ And _Can I pet it?_ When the wolves started to circle them, Gaara and Naruto were the first to realize that these weren't just big dogs. Something inside them seemed to know that they were in trouble, and those somethings weren't going to be quiet until the two children got the heck out of there. When the first wolf lunged at Naruto, everyone snapped out of their daydreams and started moving. Not that they needed to. Naruto got the biggest shock of his life when the nearby plant life reared up and grabbed the wolf in mid-air. Unbeknownst to anyone at this point, Naruto had his own form of an absolute defense. The first Hokage, Naruto's ancestor, had passed on his bloodline limit of the Mokuten style jutsus. Many knew of the First's unique ability to manipulate wood and plant life, but what only the First's family knew was that the ability was completely innate, similar to Gaara's sand shield, and required no conscious effort on the part of the user. While the plant shield was natural, members of the First's family could manipulate plants to do whatever they wanted.

At the same time as the plants grabbed the wolf, time seemed to slow down for Naruto. In fact, he could see every beat of the wings of the mosquito that flew in between him and the charging canine. Temari looked at his eyes, and her jaw dropped. Naruto's eyes had changed from being completely devoid of any other color except white and blue to having a black circle placed over both eyes. There was only one of the comma-like marks in each of Naruto's eyes, showing he still had a long way to go before mastering his bloodline limits, but they still gave him incredible abilities.

Gaara was the first to recover from the shock of the wolf attacks. "RUN!" he shouted, using his sand to pick up all four packs.

The sand user's shout jogged Naruto back to the land of the living. Grabbing Temari's hand and charging into Kankuro, Naruto started making tracks back to town. "Come on Temari-chan!" he shouted, still pulling her along and pushing the elder of the Suna brothers.

But it seemed the wolves weren't done with our chibi hikers just yet, as they circled around in front of the group, staying well away from the plants. The lead wolf lunged at Kankuro, attempting to take a bite out of the puppeteer's head. Naruto, able to see the wolf's movements thanks to his new eyes, shoved Kankuro to the side at the last possible second. The wolf skidded to a stop behind the group, and after a quick shake of it's head charged the group again. This time, Gaara's sand stopped the wolf. "Quick, throw it!" Kankuro yelled at his younger brother. Gaara, taking the hint, used his sand to toss the alpha wolf into its fellows, giving the chibi hikers a much needed moment to escape.

After running for a good five minuets, the foursome stopped for breath. As it so happened, the kids had been running in the wrong direction to get home, and had instead ran toward one of the waterfalls that fed the large reservoir that supplied the village. It was at this waterfall that the Uchiha clan preferred to practice their Katon jutsus. Just in luck for our little adventurers, Uchiha Itachi and his brother, Sasuke, were practicing at the falls today. Upon noticing his cousin, Itachi turned around. "Hey Naruto, what's wrong?" Itachi asked, seeing the younger boy sweating.

"B-big. D-dogs. Tried. Eat us!" Naruto got out between gasps, looking up to meet the eyes of his cousin. Both Sasuke and Itachi noticed it at the same time.

"Naru-ni-chan, what happened to your eyes?" Itachi asked, seeing that they were both bloodshot and bore the lines of the Sharingan.

"D-don'. K-know. Need get out of here!" the blue eyed boy shouted.

A rather unfriendly growl was heard behind Gaara, who turned around to see the same wolf pack staring down the group. Itachi wasted no time in retaliating. "**Katon: Gokakyou no Jutsu!**" he shouted, sending a large fireball at the wolf pack. The pack scattered, running away barking and with tales in between their legs.

--Two Hours Later—

Naruto was sitting down in the living room of the Uchiha manor, across from him sat the head of the Uchiha clan. On one side sat Tsunade, Gaara, and Kankuro. On the other sat Itachi, Sasuke, and Temari. "Let me see if I understand what happened correctly. You and your friends were attacked by 'large, mean dogs' while eating lunch. When you realized you were being attacked, the plants stopped one from trying to get you, and you all started to run. As you were running, you noticed that you could see things clearer than you could before, correct?" the Uchiha head asked (A/N: Does anyone know the name of this guy? I can't find it in the anime!).

"That's right. Alla sudden, I could see everything! It was cool, but my eyes hurt really bad afterwards. I don' know how I did it, I just know that I did it!" Naruto answered.

The clan head turned to Tsunade. "I was worried that something like this would happen. The mixing of bloodlines caused both to mutate. It seems that the mokuten bloodline allows him to manipulate plants subconsciously, and form a type of absolute defense. It would also seem that the Sharingan has mutated just slightly, nothing more than changing color. This won't be easy for the elders to accept, mixing bloodlines like this hasn't been allowed since the Uchiha clan began nearly 800 years ago."

"So what's so wrong about it? It opens up some awesome possibilities. Imagine a person with both the Byakugan and the Sharingan, they'd be nearly impossible too beat!" Itachi exclaimed.

"Yes, but there are many other perils in mixing bloodlines like that. Naruto is a prime example of why doing so is forbidden. Even though both of Naruto's bloodlines show through, he can't use them both at the same time without it harming him. Many claim that it is impossible to perfectly mix two bloodlines perfectly. If the Yondaime had admitted to possessing an advanced bloodline, he wouldn't have been allowed to marry into the Uchiha clan."

This seemed to get everyone's attention; things could have been a lot different if the Hokage hadn't been allowed to marry. There would have been no new-born Naruto to help him seal the Kyuubi, and no one to carry on the mokuten bloodline. Heck, there wouldn't have been a Konoha if that had happened. A rather sobering thought for all.

"So, what's gonna happen to Naru-ni-chan?" Sasuke asked.

"Thankfully, nothing. The elders can't do anything about someone with mixed bloodlines, but that doesn't mean that that they have to like the fact that someone just ignored all the rules they had set. The only people they could have done anything to would have been Naruto's parents; even then I wouldn't have let the council do much mere than give them a public reprimand." His father answered.

"That's good, so it won't interfere with the Kazekage's oh so brilliant idea for our alliance." Tsunade responded sarcastically. _Still,_ she thought, _I can't help but wander if he knew about this from the beginning. Why else would he be so insistent on having Naruto marry into a Suna clan, if not for stealing two of Konoha's most powerful bloodlines in one fell swoop._

**A/N: What do you guy's think? I hope it cleared up some of your questions on what powers Naruto has. As a side note, does anyone know how old Sasuke was when Itachi killed the Uchiha clan? It will help me with a later chapter! Keep the reviews coming, it helps to keep me from making mistakes!**


	6. To Suna with Love

**Chapter 6: To Suna with Love**

It has been nearly three months since Naruto activated his bloodline limits, and now Naruto and the Suna sibs were preparing to leave for Sunagokure. Temari smiled as she packed her backpack, soon she would be back in the sand, and her crush would get to see her home. With fond thoughts of home, she put the last of her things into her backpack. Just as she was pulling it on, Tsunade stepped into her room. "All packed?" the medic nin asked.

"Hai!" the blond haired girl replied. Behind Tsunade, Temari could see her brothers and Naruto waiting for her to join them, their packs on and ready to go. Tsunade led the group to the front door of her house, where Itachi and Sasuke were waiting for them. Itachi, now a jonin, was going to take the group as an extended training trip for both himself and his baby brother, or, as he saw it, his two baby brothers. "Are we all ready to go?" Itachi asked, looking over his charges.

"Keep an eye on them for me Itachi-san. And Naruto, you had better mind Itachi-san and Kazekage-sama while your there." Tsunade said, giving several large packages to Itachi and a playful glare at Naruto. Naruto gave his foxy grin to the medic nin and giggled, but he did nod. Tsunade sighed and smiled, the kid could really try her nerves, but he always came through for her.

With all of the goodbyes said, the group started off for Suna. After about twenty minuets of nothing but walking, Sasuke couldn't stand the silence anymore and had to ask. "So, what's it like in Suna? Anything really interesting?" he asked Gaara.

"There's not much in Suna, other than just that, sand. The oases are really cool though, but their hard to get to. If nothing else, Suna has some of the best onsen in the ninja world. If you're interested in weapons, we do have some of the best quality weapon-smiths around, and some weapons that you can't get anywhere else." The red haired boy responded.

"What kind of weapons?" Naruto asked, suddenly interested.

"I'll have to show you when we get there, it wouldn't be fun to spoil the surprise." Gaara responded.

"What did Tsunade-hime give you, Itachi-san?" Temari asked the jonin.

"A little surprise that I'm supposed to give to you guys when we get there. And no amount of puppy-dog-eye no jutsu will make me give them to you any sooner!" Itachi said with a smile. (**A/N: Credit goes to the author of 'Naruto the Kitsune Hanyou' for this jutsu!)**

--2 hours later—

The group of travelers had stopped at a town for lunch. Naruto voted for raiding the local ramen bar, Sasuke made a vote for bar-b-q, Temari favored the gourmet sandwich restaurant, Kankuro wanted cheeseburgers, and Gaara was for the sushi bar. Itachi just groaned, he knew that he was the only one who could break this tie, and he decided that there was only one stop that would be able to satisfy all of the kids with the minimum of fuss. "All right, were going for the ramen bar, it serves sandwiches and other things too." Itachi declared.

Naruto and Sasuke cheered, they were the only ones of the younger members of the group who knew what ramen was and what it tasted like, in Sasuke's case he also got his bar-b-q to go as a side dish. Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara, who hadn't ever had Ramen, were completely clueless about what to expect. "What's Ramen?" Kankuro asked, curious.

Sasuke and Naruto started smiling mischievously, and Sasuke said. "Kankuro-kun, you're going to find out!"

--40 minuets later—

Itachi was amazed at how much five little kids could put away at one sitting. In under an hour, Naruto and newfound Ramen addict Gaara had put away nearly twenty bowls between them, Temari was working on her second bowl and third sandwich, Sasuke was polishing off his seventh plate of bar-b-q, and Kankuro was into his fourth cheeseburger. Well, this is a slight exaggeration; there was really only ten bowls between Naru and Gaara, and Sasuke was really only on his fourth plate of bar-b-q, but this was what Itachi felt as he watched the kids eat.

After lunch, Itachi and the kids made some progress, making it about a fourth of the way to Suna in one day. The first night and the next day were uneventful, if not for some discussion between the kids about different ways to work on chakra control before they got into the academy. Itachi let them try a few of the basic jutsus like bunshin and kawarimi, and he demonstrated more advanced level moves like Gokakyou and the mythical fire flower technique, but he could have sworn that he saw black circles in Naruto's eyes and red in Sasuke's.

It was on the second night that anything really happened. The kids had just set up camp just off of one of the major roads, and were just settling down to sleep in their separate tents (Sasuke and Naruto in one, Gaara and Kankuro in one, Temari in her own, and Itachi in his own), when a shadowy figure appeared outside their tents. Gaara, being the only one still up and on first watch, was the first to notice him. The tanuki Jinchuuriki moved in closer to the edge of his tent to see what was going on. The stranger appeared to have a rather large bundle on his back, and his head seemed misshapen, unlike anything that Gaara had ever seen. With little to go on, Gaara decided to get a closer look. He slowly pulled the zipper down on his tent to about the halfway point, and then collected his sand into a small ball, and then formed several hand seals. The ball of sand seemed to blink, and Gaara could see out of three eyes at the same time. It was a jutsu that his father had shown him, one that he could use to see things around him when he used his sand to form an ultimate barrier around himself. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the eye out of the tent to spy on their visitor.

Kisami shrugged as he turned away from the tent, he thought he had heard a zipper coming undone. _Must of just been a sleeping bag_, the sharkman thought to himself. He didn't notice the bouncy ball sized sphere that seemed to be following him. He had been wandering around the Wind/Fire border since he left Hidden Mist. These kids and their escort might be just what he needed to get instated as a Shinobi with another village or organization. He left Mizu after having a major argument with the Kage of that area over who should take up the title of the seventh Swordsman of Hidden Mist since Zabuza left after having enough with the politics that dictated life in the snowy country. Kisami sat down by the dying embers of the fire, waiting to see if any of the owners of this camp deemed it necessary to confront him.

While Kisami had been reminiscing, Gaara had used his sand to send a message to Itachi about the stranger in the camp, and the Uchiha genius was currently attempting to assess how to confront this new threat. Finally deciding on the direct approach, Itachi stepped into the light of the embers. "Greetings newcomer." Itachi said.

Kisami, startled, reached for the bundle on his back. "Who are you, red eyes?" the sharkman asked.

"I'm a Konoha-nin, Uchiha Itachi by name. I should be asking you your name, and what you're doing here. If all you want is to warm yourself by our fire, then you can but down your weapons and I'll let you be, but if you try anything funny I'll finish you off here and now."

"Actually, I was hopping to get into a Shinobi nation, to get back on as a ninja somewhere. I left my home in a bit of a huff, mainly it was disagreements with some policies that they had." The sharkman replied, letting go of his bundle.

Itachi nodded and relaxed, he had noticed the Mizu-nuke-nin hite-ate on the stranger. Itachi had heard of the political problems that Mizu was having with some of its Shinobi. It hadn't been pretty for the hidden village, several of its most promising Shinobi had walked out on them, and several had joined other hidden villages. _These are the times we live in; I just hope that my otouto's can manage to stay out of the politics of it._ Itachi thought grimly. "Well, friend, your welcome to come with us and we'll put in a good word for you with our 'Kage, but we won't be going home for another month. If you wish you can stay with us for that time, but first you still need to tell me your name." Itachi told the rouge nin.

"Right, the name is Kisami, formerly one of the seven swordsmen of the village hidden in mist. I think you might also want to tell your little friends about me before morning so they don't flip out and try to attack me." Kisami suggested.

Itachi nodded, and walked over to his little brothers' tent, he had a lot of explaining to do to these little kids before morning.

--Two Days Later—

Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro were having an excellent time leading Naruto and Sasuke around town, showing them all of the stores and shops that went along the main street. After a few hours of looking around the group finally walked into a weapons store. The group browsed for a few minuets, finally stopping to look at a group of odd looking shuriken. "What are these?" Sasuke asked holding up a shuriken. It had what looked the seal on an explosive tag engraved into it, and it was a bit heavier than a normal shuriken.

"It's called an impact shuriken. It blows up on impact like an explosive tag, but it has only about half the amount of force behind it as a tag." Temari answered.

Naruto smirked, and put five packs of impact shuriken on the counter. Sasuke did the same, and put several packs of senbon for both him and his cousin. After paying for their purchases, the kids went back to the large apartment were they were staying with Itachi. After putting their things up, Itachi stopped them en the living room with the packages he had brought from Konoha sitting on the table.

"I think it's about time that I gave these to you…" he said.

**A/N: Gomen for taking so long to update. Between writers block and school, I've not been able to get much writing done. The next chapter will be the last prequel chapter; Chapter 8 will start at the beginning of the anime. A big thank you goes out to all of my reviewers, so keep them coming! Expect next chapter by the end of this week or early next week. Your ever burning author, Shining Pheonix signing off.**


	7. The Fall of a Clan

**A/N: Several people have asked me about whether Itachi will be leaving Konoha and putting his clan on ice. That question will be answered in this chapter, as well as the few questions I got about what is going on with Kisami.**

**Chapter 7: The Fall of a Clan**

""I think it's about time that I gave these to you…" Itachi said. He handed each of the kids a package with their name on it. The kids looked at the packages and didn't know what to do. "Go on, it's not like its Christmas, go on and open them!" Itachi said with a laugh. The packages had been given to him by Tsunade back when they left home. Temari got her package open first, inside was a tessan engraved with her name. Gaara's package had a large gourd in it, with the marks for Suna and Konoha on the belt that looped around his torso. Kankuro's package had two large ninja puppets, one in the shape of a tanuki and one in the shape of a nine tailed kitsune. Sasuke's package had three fuuma shuriken and two armguards inside. Naruto's package had a short katana and two fuuma shuriken inside.

"Th-these are awesome! Domo Arigato, Itachi-nii-san!" shouted one hyperactive kitsune just before the entire group tackled the jonin.

Itachi was laughing, the kids were genuinely happy for the gifts, and he was just as happy that the little guys could show someone this much affection. Despite what the rest of the world thought, these little guys were just like any other kid raised in a Shinobi household, energetic and full of emotion. With a little difficulty, he stood up from the dog pile of four year olds. "Okay, you guys can try out your new things, but if it gets out of hand you guys won't get to see any new jutsus tomorrow." He chided, watching as the kids ran out of the room toward the roof of the apartment building.

Itachi was just about to follow to burn off some steam when two strangers in black cloaks with embroidered red clouds and large ceremonial hats stepped into the apartment. "Uchiha Itachi, correct?" asked the taller of the two, this stranger had long hair, but Itachi could make out little of his face.

"Perhaps, what do you want?" Itachi asked, suddenly on his guard. Something about these two strangers was making him nervous. Not how strong they were, Itachi was most likely the single strongest member of his generation, and with his Sharingan he was nearly impossible to beat in close quarters.

"Not much," replied the second stranger, giving Itachi the impression of a female ninja. "We just came to deliver you an invitation. How would you like to have power beyond anything ever seen before? Power to change the world into whatever you desire? We can give you that power, more than you can ever imagine. Power to change fate itself. You don't have to give us your answer right now, but I wouldn't take to long if I were you, think of what might happen to your cute little brothers and that lovely family of yours. It would be a shame if something happened to them because you didn't give us an answer…" the female nin let the threat hang in the air, giving Itachi a chill down his spine, but the shorter stranger wasn't through talking to him yet. "When you have decided, meet our messenger at the temple on the outskirts of town. Do not tell anyone of this, and come alone."

With those parting words, the two cloaked strangers left, leaving Itachi with a feeling of dread. With a start, Itachi remembered something that the strangers had said '…_think of what might happen to your cute little brothers…_'. Itachi wasted no time getting to the roof, desperate to make sure that the kids were all right. When he got there, he found that his fears were misplaced, the kids were all fine, the only thing that looked worse for the wear was the practice dummy that Naruto and Sasuke had turned into a pincushion with senbon.

"What's wrong, aniki?" Sasuke asked, noticing his older brother's face was pale.

"Don't worry about it Otouto, it's nothing." Itachi lied, trying not to worry his charges. _This is getting out of hand; we need to get back to Konoha before these bastards can cause any trouble._ Itachi thought to himself.

Unknown to Itachi, another person across town was dealing with the offer the two strangers had given him as well. _The power to change the world the way I want it, who could pass that up without any reluctance?_ Kisami thought. Then, with a frown he also thought _But then again, they aren't afraid to use force to make me join them, why would a group that's offering power without any strings attached need to threaten others into joining them?_ The sharkman was seriously beginning to question his initial decision of joining this group. _These guys sound just as bad as Mizu, probably worse, they aren't afraid to use dirty tactics openly to get what they want._ That settled it for Kisami; he was going to take the first offer he got from the red-eyed nin and go to Konoha. He had heard a lot of good things about the Shinobi from there, including that they respected the value of friendship above the value of the mission. First off, he had to give these mysterious offer bringers his answer, and he doubted that they were going to like it.

--30 minuets later—

Kisami was surprised that the same organization that had approached him had also approached Itachi, and he was more than happy to let the red-eyed nin take his answer to them while he kept an eye on the kids. _Not a bad little bunch, really._ He thought. _The blonds seem a little close, but that may actually turn out to be a good thing._ The kids had all worn themselves out playing on the roof, so they were scattered in various positions about the room, all but one asleep. Gaara, being the only one not able to sleep, was curled up on a small bed of his sand reading a book. Temari and Naruto had fallen asleep side by side, and were currently supporting each other from falling down on the overstuffed recliner. Sasuke was laying on an oversized bean bag next to the recliner, out cold. Kankuro was asleep on the loveseat, with one arm trailing off the side not quite reaching the floor.

That scene was just what Itachi wanted to get back to, in his mind those kids were his own flesh and blood, two of them physically as well as mentally. He wanted more than anything to get back to his little family, and he wasn't going to let some damn rouge ninja organization take them away from him. (**A/N: Yeah, Itachi curses, but never near the kids!)** As he got nearer to the abandoned temple, he saw the taller of the two ninjas who had met with him earlier. "So, have you decided already?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, I've decided." Itachi said. "I've decided that if you bastards try anything against my family that not even the Shinigami himself will protect you from me. Get out and stay out of my life. Kisami asked me to deliver the same message."

To say that Diedera was surprised was an understatement. To date, none of the ninja that she had approached could resist the lure of the power that the Yami-Oni promised the Akatsuki. That two had not only just refused flat out the offer of that power, but just insulted her personally was unbelievable. Not that it mattered too much in the end, she decided, the Akatsuki were always completely serious with their threats towards their targets.

"Very well then," she said. "If that is your final decision there is nothing I can do to change it. But I warn you, there will be repercussions for refusing our very generous offer."

With that, the nuke-nin vanished, leaving Itachi to imagine what kind of repercussions this stranger was talking about.

--4 weeks later—

Naruto was glad to be home. Itachi-nii-san had been paranoid since that night he had given everyone their packages, and that sharky guy had been looking nervous about something, but he was pretty cool otherwise. Truth be told, he was kinda sad leaving Suna, because he didn't have Temari-chan to talk to since she and her brothers were staying home for a few months. It was a long walk back home without the puppeteer and the other blond to help keep the amount of energy up.

Naruto walked up the steps to his home on the Uchiha compound. He and Tsunade had moved into the Uchiha grounds shortly after his blood limit had shown up, and he was officially part of the Uchiha clan in both blood and name. _Maybe Sasuke-nii-san will spar with me after we get cleaned up._ The blond kitsune thought hopefully. Tsunade chose that moment to walk out the front door to their home, and Naruto completely forgot about how tired he was. He ran up the last few steps and jumped into Tsunade's arms. "I missed you Obaa-san!" he said into her arms.

"I missed you too, Naru-chan!" Tsunade said with a laugh, her beautiful little kit hadn't changed since he left. She sat Naruto back on the ground, and picked up his backpack. "How do you like your present?" she asked.

"It's awesome! I bet I could get really good with it and then use it as a ninja!" Naruto answered. The present in question was the short sword strapped to the back of Naruto's orange jacket. It was a special sword that Tsunade had made specifically for Naruto, it would continue to grow to a perfect length for him, allowing him to use it as a life long weapon, and then one day pass it on to his own child when he started a family.

Few people knew it, but Tsunade and Itachi had been tutoring both the Suna sibs as well as Naruto and Sasuke, for it was a belief among the older Shinobi families that the sooner you started raising a child in the ninja arts, the more proficient that child would be in his or her chosen style of combat. Naruto and Sasuke were both coming along nicely, developing low Chunin level chakra control, but Tsunade and Itachi both agreed not to teach them any offensive jutsus until they entered the academy. Instead, they taught the kids several healing techniques, as well as several useful everyday techniques they could use for just about anything, from cooking to cleaning. This hadn't stopped Naruto and Sasuke, who had activated his Sharingan early this year when a drunken Shinobi had mistaken him for an enemy nin and attacked him, from trying to copy techniques from the elder ninjas in the compound though.

Itachi had gone straight to the Hokage after he had dropped Naruto and Sasuke off at the compound and made sure his father, Fugaku, had taken Sasuke inside before he left to make his report about this new ninja organization that was doubtlessly going to cause problems for Konoha. "Are you sure that you can't remember anything more about these two ninja that approached you, Itachi?" the Sandaime Hokage asked.

"I'm positive, sir. I am afraid that they may try to carry out some of those threats they made to me and Kisami. Speaking of him sir, I was wondering if you could get him on as a ninja here, as he helped me out a great deal in Suna, and he has nowhere else to go now." Itachi answered.

"That won't be too much trouble, and I will have him placed on your ANBU squad once his status as a Konoha-nin is confirmed." Sarutobi answered.

"That would be appreciated sir. Also, I would like to make a request for something not in the immediate future."

"Request away."

"I would like to have the Genin squad that Naruto and Sasuke get placed on when they graduate. It would make the most sense that either I or Kakashi got that team, considering that they both have the Sharingan, and he and I are the only ones who could train them with it, and you obviously can't take both myself and Kakashi off the ANBU force at the same time to train two different teams with similar abilities." Itachi said.

"It is something to consider, but I won't be making the final decisions on the team assignments for them for some time yet, so relax Itachi. After all, Naruto and Sasuke will only be just entering the academy next year, so you can rest at ease on training them for battle for a while yet." Sarutobi answered, taking a good puff on his pipe.

"I understand sir, and I will." Itachi bowed, and then walked out the door. He had promised his little brothers a trip to Ichiraku's once they got back, and he knew they wouldn't be patient for much longer.

--The Next Year—

Sasuke and Naruto were racing back home from the Academy. It had been really hard, these last few weeks, trying out some of the basic offensive jutsus that the academy taught, and it was even harder when Iruka, their sensei, had forbidden anyone in the class with an advanced bloodline from using it during class. It was hard, but fun at the same time, it was a challenge that neither boy was willing to yield in.

As they approached the Uchiha compound, they began to notice something not seeming right, there was no guards at the front gate, and there was smoke rising from several of the domiciles. After they passed the front gate, they smelled the smoke. It reeked of blood and death. Right behind them, Tsunade, who had just gotten off work at the hospital, also noticed the scent. _Oh dear Kami-sama, please no!_ she thought. Itachi, who was on patrol as an ANBU, noticed the smoke rising from the compound, and immediately started racing back at top speed. _If they touched my Otoutos, there's going to be hell to pay!_ The ANBU captain thought grimly.

As it was, they all reached the center compound at about the same time. Naruto and Sasuke both looked ready to throw up, Tsunade wasn't to much better, and Itachi was numb. There, laying before them in nice, neat rows, was the entire Uchiha clan, dead.

**A/N: Wow, somebody's been slipping my muse a massive amount of caffeine; I never thought I could type this all in one night. Gomen if the swearing caught some of you off guard, but I rated this as 'T' for a reason! This is the last prequel chapter, so next Chapter: The Graduation Exams! Sorry for leaving this one off on a sad note, but I wanted to put an end to the back story. For reference, in the time period between now and the next chapter, Naruto and Temari have become official fiancés and have kept up on their 'one month here, one month there' schedule. And if any of you can't figure out who the second Akatsuki member that threatened Itachi is, I'll give you one hint, he's a hebi. Until next time, Shining Pheonix signing off!**


	8. The Graduation Exams

**Chapter 8: The Graduation Exams**

Sarutobi sat back from his desk and sighed. It had been five years since the Uchiha Massacre, and the village was feeling the backlash. The Uchiha clan had been the backbone of the ANBU and Konoha Police forces, without them there it was harder to maintain peace and order within the village, and even harder to get ninja advanced enough for missions that he could trust to no one else. At least the massacre hadn't destroyed the mental states of the survivors. Naruto was often seen around town, causing one kind of prank or another, and Sasuke was never too far away, being the one to cause several of the more devious pranks. Itachi had his hands full with the shortage of ANBU, but he took care of his remaining family, even going so far as to purchase a large duplex home away from the grounds for the remaining two Uchiha families to live in. Tsunade could often be found in either the hospital or at the training grounds training Naruto and Sasuke.

The Sandaime Hokage looked out his window. And promptly fell on his butt, laughing his head off. Naruto and Sasuke had painted the entire Hokage monument, making the entire mountain look hilarious. He would have to make them clean it up, of course, but it was worth the laugh in a time were there was little to laugh about. Sarutobi finally managed to stand back up, trying to stop laughing as a chunin brought both Naruto and Sasuke in by the scruffs of their shirts. The two boys wore nearly identical grins, it was a massive prank, it had taken all of their combined expertise to pull it off. "What in the world were you thinking!? Do you have any idea what that monument is supposed to represent!?" the chunin was furious with the boys.

"I think that they were trying to get a good laugh out of us all, and to send us a wake up call. After all, if two academy students can pull a prank like this off under the eyes of some of the most powerful ninjas in the village, what do you think that means about our security?" Sarutobi asked the chunin, giving him a stern glare over his pipe.

"Y-yes sir! But what should we do with them for such an act?" the chunin, the academy instructor Iruka, asked.

"I think that some community service is in order. Nothing harsh, just a gentle rebuke." Sarutobi answered, his still laughing eyes favoring the boys.

-- 30 minuets later –

Sasuke and Naruto were scrubbing the paint off of the monument, with Iruka watching them. _At least they didn't cut class to do this._ Iruka thought with a smile. Naruto and Sasuke were two of his best students, both trying to outdo the other. Having your 'brother' in the same class as you was a major incentive to try harder. To be honest, Iruka had seen something in the two boys and their pranks that no one else seemed to be able to pick up. The pranks and the laughs were just a mask to hide the pain they were going through after loosing their family. Iruka could sympathize; he too had lost his family at a young age, to the Kyuubi attack no less. He had also been the class clown, trying to get attention to ease the hurt in his heart. _To hell with professional distance. _He thought bitterly. "How would you guys like to go out for some ramen after you get this cleaned up?" he asked.

"YES!" was his immediate response, as well as an instant increase in scrubbing speed. Tsunade's training had left the boys with pretty incredible strength, and the paint came off easily under their combined scrubbing. A half hour later, Ichiraku Ramen was busy filling the orders of two starving boys and one hungry Chunin. The boys had gone through two bowls each before Iruka had even gotten through his first. Iruka had to smile at this, not very many people could out eat him at ramen. "So, how well prepared are you two for the graduation exams tomorrow?" Iruka asked.

"I'm ready for anything you throw at me!" replied the blond in between bites.

"I could pass them in my sleep." The raven haired boy answered.

"Well then, I expect a lot from you two, be sure to get a good nights sleep, okay?" the chunin told the boys after paying for the meals. Both boys nodded, and then raced each other back home. Even if they thought they were ready, they weren't going to take any chances; they were going to go through all the material again before the written test before they went to bed.

Across town, in a seedy bar, Mizuki, one of the academy teachers, was meeting with a man in a red and black cloak with snake like eyes. "Let me see if I got this straight, you want me to trick the Kyuubi brat into stealing the scroll of sealing for you, and then you want me to kill him?" Mizuki asked the mysterious man.

"That's right. You will need this jutsu to make sure he fails, and make sure there isn't any evidence left behind. If you can pull this off, you will be richly rewarded, as well as receiving a high rank in our new nation, Oto." The snaky man answered as he handed a scroll to the chunin.

"A high position, huh? This sounds good to me!" Mizuki muttered under his breath. He looked at the contents of the scroll, and a smirk started to cross his face. _I'll kill the Kyuubi brat, get the scroll of sealing, and get made a hero all at the same time! _He thought.

--The Next Day—

Naruto and Sasuke raced toward the academy, with an apple and a piece of toast stuck in their mouths in an attempt to eat on the run. The boys had overslept by ten minuets, and they had no time for a proper breakfast, but Tsunade had insisted that they eat something anyway. _She can be such a worrywart sometimes, but Obaa-chan means well._ Sasuke thought as he munched on the last of his toast. He and Naruto had stayed up late last night quizzing each other over various things that might show up on the written test that each prospective Genin had to take, as well as practicing the three academy jutsus they would be tested on. Sasuke had all three down pat, but Naruto still had a little trouble with kawarimi, he didn't have quite the perfect control it required to replace himself with something just the same size as him, he always wound up replacing himself with something much bigger or much smaller. Both boys ignored some of the glares that were shot toward Naruto, no amount of needling could get Itachi to spill just what it was that made the villagers hate Naruto so much.

When they got to the school, they found most of their classmates there waiting for the rest of the latecomers to arrive. "Sasuke-kun! Sit by me!" was the chorus from most of the female population. Sasuke sighed, he could never avoid these bloody fan girls while he was in Konoha, but at least he didn't have to deal with them in Suna. Most of their classmates didn't know that Naruto was already spoken for rather permanently, and those that did wished him the best of luck dealing with a fiancé. Naruto and Sasuke sat down by Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba, two of their friends who sparred with them on a regular basis.

"Move out of my way, Naruto-dobe, I want to sit by Sasuke-kun!" shouted Yamanaka Ino as she shoved Naruto out of the desk chair that he had occupied.

"Did you ever think that maybe he didn't want to sit next to you, Ino?" Kiba growled as he gave Naruto a helping hand. He really didn't like some of these crazy fan girls and the way they treated everyone else around their victim, they could be worse than enemy-nins.

"Of course Sasuke-kun wants to sit with me! Isn't that right Sasuke-…" She was cut off mid sentence when she noticed that Sasuke had disappeared and in his place was a sine that read "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Naruto and Kiba burst out laughing at Sasuke's obvious disapproval of the blond, and Ino walked off in a huff to find her precious 'Sasuke-kun'. As soon as she left, the sign disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal none other than Sasuke himself, smirking at the success of his trick. Kiba and Naruto burst out laughing. _If only Ino had known she was looking right at Sasuke… _Naruto thought. Then he realized something. "Where's Sakura?" he asked Kiba.

"The lunatic is over there." He pointed. "Apparently, she has a huge crush on Sasuke; she's the head of the fan club. Only reason she isn't over here right now is 'cause she doesn't like Ino right at the moment."

"That kind of makes sense." Naruto said as he sat back down in his desk. "Any idea on what's gonna be on the written?"

"Not really, but I heard that it's not gonna be easy." The dog boy answered, sitting back down himself. He wouldn't admit it, but he, like the rest of the class, was dead tired, he had stayed up late last night studying for the written part of the exam.

"Will everyone please take their seats so we can begin?" Iruka asked his class of ninja-wannabes. All of the students who were still standing up took their seats, getting pencils out of their bags and supply pouches. "This is the written portion of the Genin graduation exams. This portion of the exam will be forty minuets. If there are no questions, we shall begin." The chunin explained. He handed out tests to his class and then sat down behind his desk. _It is going to be interesting to see how many pass this year._ He thought with a smile.

--30 minuets later—

Naruto was well into his test. It hadn't been quite as evil as he had feared it would be. In fact, since Temari had given both him and Sasuke a version of the Suna graduation exam on their last trip down, it was almost easy. He took a look around, and noticed that some of the other kids were having a lot of trouble with the test, but almost all of them were in the bottom third of the class. Personally, he was the bottom of the top third of the class, but only because he didn't put that much effort into his class work. Two or three of the best book students were already done, most notably Sakura and Shikamaru. Naruto smirked, three more questions to go and he would be ready for the second part of the test.

Next to him, Sasuke was just finishing up his final question. _I really need to thank Temari and Gaara for making us take the test in Suna first as practice. Otherwise, this could have really been difficult._ He thought.

Ten minuets later, Iruka collected all of the tests. "All right everyone; let's move on to the second part of the exam. I will call all of you one at a time to the next room. You will then perform the three nin and gen jutsus that are taught here. First up is Abarume Shino."

As Iruka led Shino into the next room were Mizuki, the second examiner, was waiting, the rest of the class began to mingle again. "What did you think of the test, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked the shadow user.

"Far too mendokuse, but it served its purpose. I don't think that any of us should have problems with the next part though." Replied the lazy boy. "The only thing I can foresee going wrong is someone gets a last second case of the nerves and passes out."

After several hours, Naruto's name was finally called. "Come on Naruto, were waiting." Iruka chided. Moving quickly, Naruto followed Iruka into the room. "Alright, Naruto, I want you to do a henge of me." Iruka commanded. Naruto nodded and brought his hands up in the Tora seal. "HENGE!" he called out. In a puff of smoke, a near perfect copy of Iruka stood in front of the table. The only difference between the henge and the original was that the henge had pupiless eyes.

"All right, that's acceptable." Iruka said, marking on his grade sheet. "Now, Naruto, I want you to replace yourself with this log."

Naruto again nodded and proceeded to make the seals for kawarimi. In a puff of smoke, the log was standing in the place of Naruto, and the kitsune himself was on the far side of the room. "Excellent job Naruto. Okay, final one. Please make five bunshin." Iruka commanded.

_It's time to make my move._ Mizuki thought, quickly making the seals for the technique that the scroll had shown him. As Naruto made the seals for bunshin, he felt something odd, as if his chakra was being blocked somehow, not moving in the direction he wanted it to. As he finished the technique, Naruto was shocked to only see two bunshin, both of them looking sick and dying. This shocked Iruka as well, who had helped Naruto make up to twenty bunshin two days before. "Something felt really wrong that time, can I try just once more real fast?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry, the rules state only one shot per test." Answered Mizuki before Iruka could, not wanting to use such a draining jutsu as the one he just had so quickly.

Iruka sadly nodded. "Sorry, Naruto. But we won't know how badly just one failure will affect your score until we get everything graded, so don't worry to much!" he tried to encourage. Naruto nodded, after all, he knew he couldn't have done _that_ badly on the written part of the exam, and his other jutsus were dead on. He walked out of the testing room, not exactly in high spirits but not down in the dumps either.

"How'd you do, nii-san?" Sasuke asked his cousin as they were eating lunch.

"Great, for the most part. But I couldn't seem to do that few bunshin for some reason." The kitsune replied, taking a slurp out of his cup of instant ramen.

"Don't worry about it, you did well on everything else though." Sasuke said, trying to lift his cousin's fast falling spirits.

After a few seconds of companionable silence between the two, they both heard a rumble, as well as shouting. Looking over their shoulders and down, they saw the entire 'Sasuke Fan Club' charge the tree they were sitting in.

"Oh. Holy. Shit." Sasuke mouthed before taking a leap onto the ground a making a run for it while he could. Naruto sighed, before climbing down to the swing suspended from the branch he was sitting on. He would never admit it to his cousin, but he was down about failing. He wasn't a perfectionist by any means, but he did expect much better than that from himself. Add the possibility of failing on to that, and you had a recipe for depression. Just when Naruto was seriously considering just heading home, Mizuki walked over to him.

"Hey, Naruto." Mizuki greeted before walking over to sit down next to the boy.

"Yo." Was all the more of a greeting that Naruto could muster up.

"I have a small proposition for you, if you're interested." The chunin said plainly.

"What kind of proposition?" Naruto asked, his curiosity piqued.

"You want to make sure you graduate beyond a shadow of a doubt, right? Well, there's this scroll in the Hokage's library called the Scroll of Sealing. If you can learn a technique from that scroll and show it to Iruka, he'll have to pass you!" Mizuki told our gullible kitsune.

"Really?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"Really!" Mizuki answered.

-- 1 hour later —

Naruto walked into the Hokage Tower. No one in the tower even looked twice at him, they were so used to seeing him come and go in the tower to talk to the Hokage that they didn't even stop him to make sure that he knew that the old man wasn't even in at the moment. For all they knew, he could have been coming in on an errand for their elderly leader. Naruto smirked. _This is going to be easier than I thought._ He said to himself as he pushed open the door to the library. There on a pedestal was the Scroll of Sealing. A quick henge later and Naruto was walking out of the library with the Scroll of Sealing disguised as one of Sarutobi's painting scrolls. With the scroll in hand, Naruto proceeded to head into the forest, toward a secluded training ground that Mizuki had told him about. When he got there, he dispelled the henge and opened the scroll. "Let's see, the first technique is, 'kage bunshin no jutsu'. And the second technique is 'One Thousand Blade Tempest'. Awesome!" he said.

-- Yet Another Hour Later –

Sarutobi had called an emergency meeting of the Chunin and ANBU. He had gotten back to his office about fifteen minuets after Naruto had left, and needed one of the scrolls from the library. The very first thing he noticed upon entering the room was the Scroll of Sealing gone from its pedestal. A quick check with his staff told him that Naruto was the last person to go into the library all day.

"Find Naruto and bring him here alive! It's very likely that someone tricked him into doing this, so do nothing that might injure him! That's an order! Now Go!" Sarutobi shouted at the assembled Shinobi. After the assembled ninja had split to hunt down Naruto, Itachi activated his Sharingan and started hunting for his 'little brother's' chakra signature. It was a very little known use of the Sharingan, but it could be used to follow someone's energy trail, if you knew what this energy felt like. He had heard from Sasuke what was bothering Naruto, and he was sure that someone had tricked him into stealing the scroll as a way to graduate. With ease, he found Naruto's energy trail and followed it, noticing that the two academy teachers seemed to be doing the same. _No, _he corrected himself. _Mizuki looks like he knows where he's going, Iruka is following Mizuki_. Something about that disturbed the ANBU captain, so he rushed ahead, desperate to get to Naruto before Mizuki.

While Itachi was deliberating, Iruka was doing his best to keep up with his colleague. He wasn't sure how Mizuki seemed to know where Naruto was, but he knew it couldn't be good if the Chunin was left alone with the boy. Feeling ahead of himself with his chakra, Iruka finely felt the foxy energy he had been searching for. Mizuki, at the last second though, turned a different direction, as if he felt something that Iruka didn't. _No matter, if I get to Naruto and bring him back to the Hokage, it'll be all right, Mizuki won't be able to hurt him._ Iruka thought desperately.

Finely reaching a clearing, Iruka was shocked to find an exhausted Naruto propped up against a small shack with the Scroll of Sealing sitting next to him. Iruka let out a sigh of relief, at least his student was alive and still in one piece. The Chunin walked over to him and kneeled, shaking Naruto lightly. "Hey, Naruto! Wake up!" Iruka said, letting a little bit of annoyance slip into his voice.

"Uhh. Oh, hey! Iruka-sensei, you found me! But I only learned two techniques!" Naruto said as he woke up a little.

Suddenly, Iruka shoved Naruto aside and spun around, only to get impaled by the massive amount of kunai that was meant for Naruto.

"So, you found him. I should be impressed, but all you can do is annoy me now. Naruto, if you want to live, hand me the Scroll!" Mizuki shouted from the tree branch he had stopped on.

"Naruto, whatever you do, don't give him the scroll! You have to guard it with your life! It contains powerful techniques sealed away by the first and second Hokages!" Iruka shouted at Naruto, while pulling several of the kunai out, preparing to use them against their owner.

"That's right; it holds a powerful technique that will give a human power even demons must fear! It's useless to a little punk like you!" Mizuki retorted beginning to mold chakra into his hands in preparation to use his giant shurikens.

Naruto, scared at the sight of the two chunin preparing to go all out against each other, decided to make a break for it while the getting was good.

_Good boy, Naruto!_ Iruka thought, silently praising his student.

"Foolish, but no more than I expected from a loser teacher like you! I'll kill you first, and then I'll kill the brat!" Mizuki shouted. He pulled one of the giant shuriken from off his back, gave it a spin to give it some momentum, then threw it at Iruka. Iruka leapt to the side while flinging several of the kunai back at Mizuki.

"Don't you touch my student!" Iruka shouted at the traitor, doing his best to keep the rogue from giving up on fighting him and going after the more or less undefended Naruto.

"Do you really think that I'm stupid enough to fight you to a standstill while you wait for help? Just stay here and I'll be back to finish you in a minuet!" Mizuki bantered back at Iruka before leaping off into the trees, Iruka just steps behind him. After a few moments, Mizuki used a henge to transform into Iruka. _If I catch up to him, I just might be able to convince him to give me the scroll before I kill him!_ The traitor thought. As if on cue, Naruto jumped through the trees in front of him, the scroll tied to his back.

"Naruto! Give me the scroll! He'll catch up with you in a moment!" Mizuki/Iruka shouted. Naruto didn't even seem to hear him as he turned around and slugged Mizuki/Iruka in the face. Mizuki hit the ground, his henge broken by the punch. "How did you know I wasn't Iruka?" he asked, mildly shocked.

"Because _I'M_ Iruka!" 'Naruto' shouted. In a puff of smoke, Iruka was standing where 'Naruto' had been, the scroll turned into a log.

"Pfft, I don't know why you're going through so much trouble to save that bastard fox, he killed your family after all!" Mizuki said, standing back up.

"Naruto _ISNT THE KYUUBI!_ He's an excellent student who watches out for other people and survived a life that's been worse to him than dying a hundred times over could possibly be! And he's done it all while keeping that cheerful demeanor of his! I will not stand by and watch people like you destroy his reputation and his life any further!" Iruka shouted, charging and Mizuki with his last kunai.

Mizuki nimbly dodged and kicked Iruka in the stomach, then tossed the teacher back onto the ground. "If that's all you got to say, then prepare to watch _your_ life end!" Mizuki proclaimed, spinning his last giant shuriken in preparation to charge down his former friend. Before he could reach Iruka, however, an orange and black blur head butted him in the stomach. Naruto put down the scroll and glared at Mizuki. "Touch Iruka-sensei and I'll kill you!" he said.

"Pfft, a brat like you I can kill in one shot!" Mizuki bantered back.

"Iruka-sensei, is what he said about the Kyuubi, true?" Naruto asked his teacher, ignoring the traitor for the moment.

"It's not, Kyuubi may have been sealed in your body, but you aren't it." Iruka told his student.

"Ignore me will you!" Mizuki shouted, obviously miffed at being ignored. He charged at Naruto with shuriken spinning.

Naruto glared at him, made one seal and shouted. "Eat this! **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

With that, 100 Naruto's appeared around Mizuki. "You think that one little jonin level technique is going to save you from me? Fat chance!" Iruka shouted before throwing handfuls of shuriken in every direction, destroying the clones.

"Damn you, try to beat this one then! **Thousand Blade Tempest!**" Naruto pulled one of his impact shuriken from his supply pouch, made two hand seals, and then threw the weapon into the air above Mizuki. Instantly, one thousand impact shuriken rained from the sky, all aiming for Mizuki. With nowhere to run, Mizuki used his oversized shuriken as a shield from the smaller ones coming down on him. What he didn't expect was that each shuriken exploded on impact with a solid object with half the force of a normal explosive tag. When the jutsu was over, Mizuki was very battered, but still alive, and his giant shuriken reduced to scrap by the explosions.

"I'll give you an 'A' for effort, gaki, but you lack the discipline needed to make those moves work well. This is where it ends!" the traitor shouted, charging at an exhausted Naruto with an elongated kunai dagger.

Before he ever got to Naruto, Mizuki was thrown against a tree rather forcefully. Standing in front of Naruto and Iruka was Itachi, his red eyes spinning. "Touch either one of my Otoutos, and I'll do worse than kill you!" Itachi proclaimed.

As Mizuki looked up at the ANBU captain, he noticed something that disturbed him. Instead of the three comma marks, Itachi's Sharingan was in the shape of a three bladed shuriken. As they made eye contact, Itachi whispered "**Tsukiyomi no jutsu.**"

Mizuki screamed. And screamed. And screamed. He felt as if his entire mind was being ripped into shreds and lit on fire, as if his body were being killed over and over again without any end. Then, as suddenly as he had started, he stopped and fell flat on his face, mercifully unconscious.

After Mizuki fell, Iruka turned to Naruto. "Come here and close your eyes, Naruto." He said. Naruto did as he was told, and felt something wrap around his forehead.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." Iruka said. When Naruto did, he noticed that Iruka's headband was missing, and put two and two together.

"Congratulations, Otouto, you passed!" Itachi said, his eyes back to their normal Sharingan form.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Naruto shouted as he tackled Iruka in a hug.

"Take it easy!" Iruka said with a laugh.

"Can you take Mizuki back Iruka? I believe that Naruto and I have a celebration to go to!" Itachi asked as he put Naruto on his back, since the blonde's infamous stamina was finally pulling near the bottom of the well.

"Hai, have fun!" Iruka said, picking up Mizuki none too gently. As they headed their separate ways, Iruka whispered. "Congratulations, Naruto. Welcome to the real world."

**A/N: Yooooooooooooooosh! When I catch the teme who's been slipping my muse caffeine, I don't know whether I'll thank him or feed him to Kyuubi. Anyway, constructive criticism welcome, and tell me what you think. Reviews are the lifeblood of authors like me. This is Shining Pheonix, signing off!**


	9. The Teamwork of Team 7

**I noticed I hadn't put this on any of my other chapters, so I'm placing it here once and only once. I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters associated with it. The only things in this fic that I own are the EX styles, the impact shuriken, and the plotline. Please don't sue, all you'll get are a few dusty floppy disks!**

**Chapter 9: The Teamwork of Team 7**

Sarutobi leaned back from his desk. It had been a long morning, selecting the new Genin teams had been hard work, but in the end, he had finely been able to settle on a combination that he thought could work. The old man let a smile cross his face. Soon, his own grandson would be entering the academy, and he could let Ebisu move onto more important work. _Then again, _he thought, _it would almost be worth it to make Ebisu take on a genin team later._

A knock came from his office door. "Come in, Iruka." Sarutobi called out to the Chunin behind the door. Iruka came in, wondering why the Hokage had called him.

"Sir, you left a message asking to talk with me?" Iruka asked, tense. Getting called into the Hokage's office usually only meant one of two things, either a swift and fierce reprimand, or a private debriefing, usually the latter.

"Relax, Iruka. I just wanted to talk with you about the genin assignments." The Hokage replied, taking a good drag on his pipe.

--Ten Minuets Later—

"You can't be serious; it's a major breach in protocol!" Iruka exclaimed.

"I am serious. After all, we can't take two ANBU leaders off the force at the same time, and he is the only one who would willingly train both boys without any qualms." Sarutobi calmly replied.

"But it would look like favoritism. It's completely unprecedented. Too put that many family members together on the same team, it's never been done!" Iruka continued, exasperated.

"No, but there has never been this many bloodline users graduate at the same time. Exceptions have to be made somewhere, and I am making them here."

"I still don't see why you can't use Kakashi. He would be able to train both boys, as well as not breaking the taboo as your proposing."

"True, in theory, but what you seem to forget is that though Kakashi doesn't see Naruto as the Kyuubi, and doesn't hold any ill will toward the boy, training him to fight at an extreme level is where he will most likely draw the line. I know that you don't like it Iruka, but it must be done."

"One last thing, sir. What is Itachi's record with Genin teams?"

"Funny you should ask. Itachi hasn't passed a single team that he has ever been offered. It would seem that he sets his standards of teamwork at a very high level, one that isn't usually reached by Genin."

"And you think that this team will be able to pass his test?"

"That remains to be seen, but I have faith in the possibility."

"Then I will respect your decision. Do you want me to announce the groups later today?"

"I believe that would be appropriate. The last of the Ninja records should be turned in this morning, later this afternoon would be appropriate."

--Two Hours Later—

Naruto sat in front of Tsunade and Sarutobi. They were overseeing the induction of all the new Genin into the Ninja record, a permanent recording of all the ninja that had ever called Konoha home. In Tsunade's hands was Naruto's induction card. Naruto's picture had him performing the victory sign in front of the camera, without his Sharingan active, it looked as if there wasn't any white at all to his eyes, just solid blue. Silently, Naruto smirked, it had taken him three tries to get the effect he wanted.

"An excellent picture, Naru-chan. Anything you want to add, last second?" Tsunade asked her nephew (**A/N: he's actually her grand-nephew, but I don't feel like writing that every time**).

"Nope, Sasuke-nii-san helped me make it perfect last night, so I don't need to put anything else on it!" the kit answered.

Without any warning, the door to the room opened, revealing a small child with goggles and an oversized red scarf. "Naru-kitsune! Fight me!" The child yelled as he raised a shuriken. Naruto's smirk broadened into a full smile, he and Sasuke had baby sat Konohomaru before for pocket money, and the young child had an endless obsession with trying to beat them. Just as Konohomaru was about to throw the shuriken, his tutor, Ebisu, rounded the corner.

"Honorable Grandson! What are you doing?!" The special jonin exclaimed.

The distraction was just enough that Konohomaru tripped on the edge of his scarf, causing him to fall flat on his face. The child got back to his feet, giving a dirty look to Ebisu. "Darn it, just the kind of trick I expected from my rival!" the child exclaimed. Naruto just smiled, the poor kid had tried sneak attacks of this sort several times, and they almost always ended up like this. _I need to remember to get the poor guy a shorter scarf._ Naruto thought.

After Sarutobi reprimanded Ebisu for not keeping a closer eye on Konohomaru, and telling Naruto to be at the school for team announcements at one o'clock, both of the younger boys left to wander around town until then.

"So, Naru-kitsune, will you show me that move that can beat my grandpa?" Konohomaru asked as they started walking down the street.

"Oh, why do you want to learn _that_ move?" Naruto asked, stretching.

"Because I wanna beat the old man! I'm tired of being called 'Honorable Grandson' this, 'Honorable Grandson' that, all I want is to be recognized for who I am, not who I'm related to!" the scarf clad boy answered.

"Is that so? In that case, I'll show you the move, but first, let's get some ice cream!" Naruto responded. As they walked up to the ice cream vendors cart, they noticed several other people waiting in line there. Among them were Hyuuga Hinata, Hanabi, and Neji, as well as Kisame and Sasuke.

"K-konichiwa, Hanabi-chan!" Konohomaru greeted the younger Hyuuga girl before ducking behind Naruto.

"Awfully shy, isn't he?" Kisame commented to Sasuke, who gave a small laugh and a nod in reply.

Hanabi blushed, she had had a crush on Konohomaru for a while, and he undoubtedly returned that crush. Hinata laughed at her little sisters plight, she had harbored a crush on Naruto for a long time until she found out that he already had a fiancé, and she had already started moving on with her life. It wasn't as if Naruto ignored her, quite the opposite. She, Neji, Naruto, and Sasuke all had become good friends due to them all coming from Konoha's 'Nobel' clans, and it wasn't uncommon for the four of them to be seen in each others company, whether sparring or just hanging out. Currently, the target of Hinata's affection was a certain red head from Suna that she had seen with Naruto several times (**A/N: She may know that Naruto has a fiancé, that doesn't mean that she knows who all the players are yet**).

After everyone had gotten their ice cream cones, Sasuke and Kisame left for training ground five to practice water style jutsus, the Hyuuga's left for home, and Naruto and Konohomaru left for training ground one, a private ground that only members of Konoha's royal families could get into.

"Okay, if you really want to use 'Sexy no Jutsu', picture the most beautiful lady you can think of, and then use Henge!" Naruto explained to his young 'apprentice'.

"Hai! **Sexy no Jutsu!**" Konohomaru was replaced with an overweight woman in a blue swimsuit.

"NO, NO, NO! Think thinner!" Naruto shouted.

So it went all morning, as Naruto tried to teach Konohomaru 'Sexy no Jutsu'. Finally, after about two hours, Konohomaru finally got the jutsu down pat.

"You really think this can beat my grandpa?" the scarf wearing boy asked.

"Absolutely! If it can put ero-sennin down in one go, I'm sure it can beat your grandpa!" Naruto responded. He had actually came up with the move to put an end to Jiraiya's wandering eyes at home, he had walked in unannounced too many times on Shizune-nee-chan for Naruto's liking.

"HONERABLE GRANDSON! What are you doing with the likes of _him_!" Ebisu shouted.

"What do you want?" Konohomaru asked his mentor.

"Come now, you shouldn't be seen in such disreputable company!" Ebisu continued.

"For that little insult to Naru-kitsune, take this! **Sexy no Jutsu**!" Konohomaru shouted. In a puff of smoke, Konohomaru was replaced by a beautiful young girl clad in a skimpy blue swimsuit.

"Humph, I am a gentleman, such a low level technique doesn't affect me!" Ebisu shouted before hopping down from his tree branch to properly face his young ward.

"If you think that you've won just because you can stand up to the first version, you're sadly mistaken!" Naruto shouted, forming hand seals. With a puff of smoke, Naruto multiplied into 20 shadow clones. In synch with each other, the clones all formed more hand seals and transformed into a blond girl, wearing nothing but smoke over their most sensitive areas.

"Ebisu-sama!" all the clones exclaimed as they rubbed up against him. Ebisu couldn't take it, he was blasted back a good ten feet from the nosebleed he received. All of the clones disappeared, and Naruto dropped his transformation.

"That will teach you to keep your eyes where they belong!" Naruto said, smirking.

Naruto and Konohomaru tied Ebisu up, finding several of the _Icha Icha _series hidden in various pockets.

Finally, it was time for Naruto to return to the Ninja Academy for the last time, to meet his Genin team. Upon arriving, Naruto met back up with Sasuke at the front door.

"Almost didn't think that you passed nii-chan." Sasuke said.

"He he, almost didn't. But I did, so let's go meet our teams!" Naruto answered his cousin.

"Guess it's true what they say, 'Can't keep a good Uchiha down.'" Kiba commented dryly as they entered the classroom.

"So, I guess this means we all passed, can't say that I'm surprised." Shikamaru said, putting in his two bits worth.

"I hope you're on my team, Sasuke-kun!" Ino and Sakura shouted at the same time, both trying to latch on to him.

Before Naruto could start any violence against the girls for abusing his cousin, Iruka stepped into the classroom.

"Please be seated." Iruka stated simply. He was instantly obeyed; he never had too much trouble controlling a class, even if he had several potential troublemakers. "I will now announce the Genin Team assignments. Team 1 consists of…"

"… Team Seven Consists of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Your Jonin instructor is Uchiha Itachi. Team Eight consists of Hyuuga Hinata, Abarume Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. Your Jonin instructor is Kurenai. Team Nine consists of… Last but not least, Team Ten consists of Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Choji, and Yamanaka Ino, your Jonin instructor is Sarutobi Asuma." Iruka announced.

Ino groaned, she wasn't going to be with her precious 'Sasuke-kun', instead, her worst rival was slotted onto his team, and she was stuck with a lazy loudmouth and a glutton. Sakura couldn't decide whether to squeal with delight or puke of revulsion, she loved Sasuke, but she hated Naruto. In her mind, he was nothing but a troublemaker who wouldn't let any of the fan girls near Sasuke if he could help it.

"All right everyone, your sensei's should be here within a half hour, so feel free to do whatever you want until then, you can't leave the classroom until your sensei arrives though." Iruka said in parting.

--30 minutes later—

Everyone's jonin sensei had arrived, save for one. Itachi was late, due to the fact that he was helping Kisame move into a new permanent apartment and hadn't been able to get cleaned up until late. His new genin team had no way of knowing this, though, and they were growing impatient. Rather, one member of said team was growing impatient enough for two people (**Guess who**).

Sakura looked like she was ready to bash something into a billion pieces as she paced around the room (**Surprised?**). "When is sensei going to get here?" she shouted, angry that he hadn't appeared.

"Cool off, he probably had to report in to the Hokage. After all, until today he was the captain of the ANBU, so he may have had some last minute instructions to get or give." Sasuke answered, trying to defuse the ticking time bomb of a girl pacing in front of him.

"Still, it isn't like aniki to be late too much." Naruto commented to his cousin, in a voice low enough that only the two of them could hear.

"If that's the case, I think a little punishment is in order, ne?" Sasuke asked, standing up from his chair. Naruto nodded in agreement, and handed his cousin a flash tag. Flash tags are similar to explosive tags, but they only give off a brilliant burst of light instead of exploding. Sasuke took the tag and placed it on the edge of the door, when someone opened the door it would go off in their face. After about five more minutes passed, and Itachi opened the door, holding the tag that his team had tried to use on him.

"I'll give you an A for and ingenuity, but you get a C for poor execution." Itachi said as he walked into the room.

"YOURE LATE!" was Sakura's reply. She was still mad that he had made them wait.

"So I am. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." Itachi commanded. The three genin did as instructed, finding Itachi already there, waiting for them.

"Let's get started with the introductions. I'm Uchiha Itachi, I have no desire to tell you all of my likes and dislikes, and I have several hobbies."

_All I learned was his name_. Sakura thought, sweat dropping.

"Demo, aniki, you forgot to mention that you love learning new jutsus, hate idiots who treat kids badly, and that your ranked number three in the BINGO book, wanted in every nation but Fire and Wind." Sasuke commented.

"Nani, number three? Last I checked I was number two, who beat me?" Itachi asked, noticing that Sasuke was holding the latest edition of said book.

"Well, they didn't beat you, exactly, but someone beat the guy in first place. Someone called 'Zero'." The younger Uchiha answered.

"Anyway, pink hair, your next." Itachi went on.

"My name is Harauno Sakura. My hobbies include shopping, trying to win Sasuke-kun, and training with medical jutsus. I like Sasuke-kun, medical jutsus, and flowers. I don't like Yamanaka Ino, idiots who try to keep me from Sasuke-kun, and perverts." Sakura said.

_Great, I'll have to keep an eye on her. She could drag this entire team down just to satisfy a crush._ Itachi thought, mentally assessing his team. "All right, your next, Naruto."

"I'm Uchiha Kazama Naruto. My hobbies include pranking, learning new jutsus, practicing with my bloodlines, reading, and sparring. I like living with my family, my fiancé Temari, ramen, training, foxes, and causing generalized chaos on people who really tick me off. I don't like idiots who treat kids as trash, Sasuke-nii-san's fan girls, and people who use cursed seals on others who have no choice. My dream is to one day become Hokage." Naruto said.

_Naruto's an Uchiha?! Just what have I been ignoring?!_ Sakura thought, shocked.

"Sasuke, your next." Itachi said, looking at his brother.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. My hobbies include sparring with Naru-nii-chan, reading, and causing chaos for those who are mean to him. I like my family, visiting Suna, and learning new jutsus. I don't like fan girls, people who are mean to others for no reason, and I absolutely hate cursed seals. My dream is to one day avenge the clan by killing the Akatsuki, and to help Naru-nii-chan as the Hokage's number 2 man." The raven haired boy stated.

"Good, now that we're all introduced, I need to tell you about the next test that you three are to take before you can become full Genin." Itachi started.

"What do you mean, test to become full genin? Wasn't the test to pass at the academy enough?" Sakura asked.

"Well, the test that you passed at the academy was just to see who was qualified to become a genin. After you pass that, each instructor must test each team of three to see if they can really become genin. The actual failure rate for the real genin test is 66.6. at any rate, I expect to see all of you at training ground three at seven hundred hours tomorrow. Don't eat breakfast." Itachi said, dismissing his students.

--The Next Morning—

Sasuke and Naruto waited for Sakura to show up at training ground three. It was 6:45, and the boys had already had time to fit in one quick spar as a warm up for any kind of test Itachi could throw at them.

"Hey, aniki. What kind of test do you think Itachi-nii-san will throw at us?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"Don't have a clue, but I do wish that Sakura and aniki would hurry it up already."

"Well, Itachi-nii-san believes in being punctual, maybe he just wants to show up just at seven o'clock."

"Doesn't explain Sakura though."

"Good point."

The two lapsed into a brotherly silence, waiting for the rest of their team to show up. Ten minutes later, Sakura walked onto the training field.

"How did you two get here so fast?" She asked.

"We've been here for twenty minutes already. Tsunade-Obaa-san made sure that we got here a half hour early." Naruto answered her.

"Tsunade's your aunt? What else about your family don't I know?" Sakura asked.

"Plenty, but not much else that you need to know about right now." Sasuke answered for his cousin.

"Have either of you seen sensei?" Sakura asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Not since early this morning. Last we saw him he was grabbing a cup of coffee before running off, saying that he needed to get something from Kakashi-san for the test." Naruto answered her.

Before anyone could say anything else, a _bang_ and a puff of smoke revealed Itachi standing in front of the three pre-teens.

"Good morning. Lets get the test started, shall we." Itachi commanded. The three kids followed him further into the training ground, to a clearing with three posts standing in a line and a stump off to one side. On the stump sat an alarm clock. "The clock is set to go off at noon. Before then, you must each take a bell from me. Anyone who doesn't get a bell before noon will be tied to one of the posts and not receive any lunch, as well as being sent back to the Academy." Itachi said while holding up two bells.

"Demo, sensei, there's only two bells, does that mean that no matter what one of us fails?" Sakura asked.

"Possibly, but you will only find that out after the test." Itachi answered.

With that, Itachi placed the bells on his belt, waiting for his students' first move. Naruto was the first to make a move, pulling out his katana and charging. "**EX Blade Style: Throw Blade**!" Naruto shouted, slashing down. A blade shaped burst of energy shot out of the sword, heading right for Itachi. The jonin jumped, dodging the blade. _Damn, I forgot that they picked up the EX styles in Suna!_ Itachi mentally cursed. The EX styles were special moves that didn't require chakra, and were classified as S ranked forbidden moves. Naruto had learned EX: Blade Style and Sasuke had learned EX: Fist Style. Just as Itachi landed, he had to duck to avoid a swinging katana wielded by Naruto. Itachi used a kunai to block the sword and used his free hand to punch the kitsune boy. 'Naruto' disappeared in a puff of smoke. _Kuso, Kage Bunshin?_ Itachi thought. Jumping back onto a tree branch, Itachi collected his thoughts. _Okay, Naru and Sasuke are probably working together, sending out bunshins and long distance moves to wear me out. Sakura is the only unknown element, but I doubt that she's working with the boys, most likely she's off on her own attempting some type of genjutsu. _

Itachi's musings were confirmed when a lone Sakura attempted to attack him from behind, kunai drawn. Itachi spun and caught the kunai and threw it into some nearby bushes. "Lesson number one, Taijutsu." He stated simply. He adopted a fighting stance. Sakura did likewise, not knowing what to expect. _He has the Sharingan, but as long as he doesn't activate it I have a chance._ She thought, calculating just what she would have to do to get the bells.

Deciding on a course of action, Sakura charged at Itachi, forming hand seals for the regular bunshin jutsu. She was just about to reach for the bells, thinking Itachi was distracted with her clones, when she found herself dangling upside down by her ankles.

"Don't assume anything about your opponent or his actions, it can mean the difference between life and death." Itachi chided. Sakura looked down to see what had happened. She had been picked up by a simple rope noose that had caught her ankles as she had rushed towards Itachi. Before she could berate herself about how stupid a move that had been, Naruto and Sasuke had started attacking Itachi again, this time directly.

"**EX Fist Style: Meteor Punch**!" Sasuke shouted, throwing three bursts of energy towards his older brother. Itachi leapt to the left, desperately trying to get away from the two. Naruto was waiting for him, katana drawn and ready. "**EX: Field of Steel**!" Naruto cried before slamming the point of his sword into the ground. Instantly, dozens of razor sharp blades sprung out of the ground around Itachi's feet. The jonin once again jumped, this time throwing kunai at the kitsune boy. To his utter horror, the knife was snatched out of the air by vines, and the tree branch he had jumped onto started to wrap itself around him, pinning his arms to his sides and wrapping around all of his fingers. In the last few seconds he had before his hands were totally separated he formed the seal for Kage Bunshin, another Itachi poofed into existence, preventing the boys from getting to Itachi for the bells. "Naru-nii-chan, don't wrap him up completely, we still have to get those bloody bells!" Sasuke reminded his cousin.

"I know, I know!" Naruto began manipulating plants again, this time causing hundreds of razor sharp thorns to spring out from the trees.

"You won't beat me with that simple trick!" Itachi the clone shouted. The clone pulled out his katana, charging at Naruto and Sasuke. The clone took one mighty swing at Sasuke, who caught the blade bear handed (**A/N: remember, their being trained by Tsunade too, so Naruto and Sasuke have physical strength that Itachi can't match**).

"**EX: Hadachi** (Blade Break)!" Sasuke cried out, shattering the blade. Then, using the end of the sword he had just broken, Sasuke stabbed the clone, causing it to poof out of existence. When he looked back up, he saw Naruto holding up the bells as one of his vines brought Sakura down from the trap. Just as Sakura had both feet back on the ground, the alarm rang.

"Hmm, looks like you guys actually managed to beat me using teamwork. You guys are the first to ever actually pass my test; nobody else even came close to the amount of teamwork you displayed. Using Sakura as a decoy while you got into position, I never saw it coming!" Itachi said after he had been released from his wooden prison.

"So, does that mean that we all passed?" Sasuke asked.

"It does, so why don't we all go get something to eat!" Itachi answered, herding his new Genin team in the direction of Ichiraku's.

**A/N: Well, that's another one down! I've gotten several e-mails asking me how Itachi got the Mangekyo (Kaleidoscope Copy Wheel) Sharingan. It actually stems from a theory I have, that the normal Sharingan appears to save the life of the user, and the Mangekyo appears to save the life of the user's family. So, since Naruto was in mortal danger, the Mangekyo appeared on Itachi to save the life of his cousin. Also, many of you are probably curious as to why Naruto isn't yelling all the time, like he is in the anime. My view on Naruto is that he's a berserker, during normal life he's generally calm, causing trouble is his pastime, but manage to tick him off and he's unstoppable, his bloodline preventing him from receiving much if any damage, like Gaara's sand. So don't expect a hyperactive Naruto, but a calmer and collected one who doesn't need to shout all the time. After all, he's got a family who gives him all the attention he needs, so he doesn't need to go around causing problems to get attention, he just does it with Sasuke to get back at those people who really need it. As a side note, I am starting to work on my next fic, "The Family of MegaMan Zero", so my updating speed on this one may be cut down a bit. If worst comes to worst, I'll update at least one fic weekly, more if my muse is really driving me nuts. Ja Ne for now, this is Shining Pheonix signing off!**


	10. Protect the Bridge Builder

**Chapter 10: Protect the Bridge Builder!**

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura rushed through the trees, closing in on their quarry. Itachi sat in a clearing nearby, listening to reports given to him over the radio. "Target sighted." Sasuke reported.

"Prepare to move in, proceed with caution." Itachi ordered.

Without warning, the quarry started running, as if it had sensed the young ninja's presence. "Target is moving! Target is moving!" Sakura exclaimed into her headset, giving chase. Sasuke moved faster, attempting to tackle the target. Much to his dismay, the target jumped to a tree branch before he could grab it. Sakura attempted to grab the target's legs from below, and got a fistful of leaves for her efforts. Just as the target was prepared to make a clean getaway, the vegetation where it was standing burst from the ground, fully entrapping it.

"Target captured." Naruto stated calmly.

"Good. Mission 'rescue Tora' complete. You may now return to the village, I will await you at the Hokage's tower." Itachi stated.

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?" Sakura asked.

"Now where's the fun in that?" the kitsune boy responded.

"Just admit it, you like getting a good workout. Next time, we let you go on this mission by yourself." Sakura charged.

"If there is a next time, I'll just catch the thing first thing. I'm tired of chasing him all over the forest." Naruto admitted.

It was true; Team 7 had 'rescued' this same cat no less than eight times previously. Team 8 had gone on this mission twice before, and Team 10 had the unfortunate displeasure of 'rescuing' the cat three times. All three teams had sworn that they would go on the mission only one more time each and then tell the mission board to do something that would get them a severe reprimand, as well as a bar of soap to the mouth.

--Twenty Minutes Later—

Team 7 watched with sympathy (for the cat) as the first lady of Fire Country gave her pet cat a massive squeeze. "Arigato for rescuing my beloved Tora!" the woman said before walking off to meet her husband. The team sweat dropped, with the way their luck was going they would have to carry out that threat. "Well, now that that's over, let's go get our next mission." Itachi suggested, trying to boost his teams falling spirits.

The team obediently filed inside. Waiting for them at the Mission Selection room was Iruka and the Sandaime Hokage. "Do you have anything interesting today?" Sasuke asked.

"Let's see, we've got a farmer who wants help weeding his garden, a woman who needs help with her grocery shopping, and a man who wants someone to walk his dogs." Iruka replied, looking at the mission sheets marked 'D'.

"Is that all you've got!? Why can't we get a mission that at least has some travel to it, at least a small hint of danger more than a paper cut!?" Sakura exclaimed.

"At least up the ranking a bit, I think it's obvious that our talents are being wasted on these low ranked missions." Naruto added, noticeably calmer than his teammates.

"Listen, you guys know how mission rankings work and we have to follow them. As Genin, you're just not ready for a higher ranked mission yet." Iruka said, attempting to keep his blond ex-student calm. He had seen what could happen if someone finally made Naruto mad, and he had no desire to be the one to set him off.

"Well, I do think I have a mission that would satisfy everyone." Sarutobi said.

"How so?" Itachi asked, intrigued.

"Come in, Tazuna!" Sarutobi called.

A man with a straw hat and sake bottle walked into the room.

"Are these the ninjas who are supposed to protect me? They look like just a bunch of brats who couldn't stand a good spanking. Especially the one in the atrocious orange jacket!" the man said.

Everyone in the room tensed, even without Kyuubi providing him power, Naruto was feared by most of the population as a powerful berserker, and once he was set off only Sasuke had the strength to match him, but even that was meaningless because Naruto could easily avoid most of his cousin's attacks with his Sharingan. Fortunately for everyone in the room, Naruto's patience seemed to be at an all time high today, because he didn't even twitch at the comment.

"If you think were weak, your more than welcome to try and fight us, but I wouldn't even need two fingers to beat you." Naruto commented nonchalantly.

"That won't be necessary, Naruto. Tazuna, this is indeed the team I promised you. Team 7, this is Tazuna, and your mission is to protect him until he completes his bridge in his home country." Sarutobi addressed the genin.

"Are you planning on leaving immediately, Tazuna-san?" Itachi asked.

"Yes, unless you've got some problem with it?" the bridge builder answered the jonin.

"I have none. Team, meet us at the north gate in a half hour, and bring any weapons and equipment you think you might need, but remember to stay light." Itachi addressed his students.

"Yes sir!" was his response.

At home, Naruto and Sasuke packed, each deciding to take their fuuma shuriken in case they needed to cause some major damage, as well as their senbon and impact shuriken. They decided not to take normal shuriken, deciding that if they got into a position where they needed that many long distance weapons then the mission was over anyway.

--Thirty Minutes Later—

Team 7 arrived at Konoha's north gate, their sensei and employer waiting for them. "Everyone ready to go?" Itachi asked.

"Hai!" Came his response. With that, the team and their employer walked off on the long trek to Wave Country.

"Just out of curiosity, Itachi-sensei, does Wave country have a hidden village?" Sakura asked.

"No, it doesn't, which makes it a good hiding place for nuke-nin, since there isn't Shinobi running around all over the place. Even on a C ranked mission, it can still be a dangerous place if you bump into the wrong people." Itachi answered.

The group lapsed into silence, just enjoying the walk.

--2 Hours Later—

It was twelve o'clock, and several members of the group were getting hungry.

"Sensei, can't we stop to eat a bite?" Sakura asked.

"Not much point in stopping right now, it would be best to wait another hour or two when there's some shade to sit in." Itachi answered.

Naruto absently kicked a stone into a puddle. "It could be worse," he thought out loud. "We could be in Suna, then I wouldn't want to be out at this time of day. Especially because there hasn't been any rain for two weeks." Sasuke picked up on the hint instantly, but gave no visible signs other than taking out a senbon to chew on.

Once the team had walked off several yards, two figures rose up out of the puddle. The figures wore masks bearing the mark of the Village Hidden in Mist. Each bore a gauntlet connected with the other by a razor sharp chain. Moving with alarming speed, the two rushed the group, wrapping the chain around Itachi and pulling in opposite directions, slicing him in pieces. "One down." The shorter of the two said.

Unfortunately for the pair of nuke-nin, the genin were prepared for the oncoming assault. Sasuke threw his senbon at the taller nin, piercing the nerve on his bare arm. Sakura attempted to finish off the nin with a kunai, but his partner used the chain to block the incoming knife. Sasuke was on the injured nin instantly, red Sharingan blazing. The Kiri nin used the knife on his gauntlet to try and slice Sasuke, but the Uchiha boy dodged the blow and delivered a kick to the chin, sending the nin flying. Sasuke flipped into the air above the nin, calling out. "**EX Fist Style: Meteor Dive!**"

Sasuke grabbed the nin by the collar and dove into the ground, fist first. The shorter Kiri nin, seeing his partner downed, detached the chain in the middle and used it as a whip, attacking Sasuke and Sakura at a distance. At least, he did until he felt a massive amount of killer intent coming from behind him. "You harmed my sensei and my friends, now you'll pay!" he heard. Looking back at the voice, he found an almost unrecognizable Naruto. His nails had lengthened and sharpened, his eyes had transformed into their Sharingan form, the whiskers on his cheeks were noticeably thicker, and his normally 'stick out at all angles' hair was now standing straight up. In the blink of an eye, Naruto was gone, and the Kiri nin was flying from a kick to the jaw. Naruto reappeared, katana drawn. "**EX Blade Style: Finishing Touch!**" Naruto shouted, holding the sword as one would a bat, then swinging. A burst of wind shot from the blade, but the blades of wind were razor sharp, causing many deep wounds. The Kiri nin hit the ground, moaned, and lay still.

Itachi stepped out from behind a nearby tree, looking pleased with his students. "Good job everyone, let's get these two tied up and take a break." He ordered calmly.

Tazuna looked shocked. "B-but, they sliced you in half, how are you still standing?" he asked.

"I'll answer that in a second, first we'll deal with these guys." Itachi responded.

Five minutes later, the Kiri nin were secured to the tree, Naruto and Sasuke were back to normal, and Sakura was pulling out MRE's from her pack and handing them out.

"So, why aren't you filleted?" Tazuna asked again.

"Simple, Naruto warned us, so I simply made a Kage Bunshin and pulled a quick kawarimi." Itachi answered.

"How did you know that they were there?" the bridge maker asked the kitsune boy, hoping that a question like that wouldn't make the child mad again.

"Simple, it hasn't rained for two weeks, so why would there be puddles on the road? It doesn't take a genius to make that deduction." Naruto answered, now far too calm to get mad at anything short of a drawn weapon.

"Cleaver way of warning us, if they had been listening to you they wouldn't have been able to catch on to the warning right away." Sasuke said, accepting a meal from Sakura.

"I have a question for you, Tazuna. What were the Demon Brothers of Hidden Mist doing here? Were they after you or us?" Itachi asked the bridge maker, his tone showing it was no request.

"You've caught on, this isn't a C ranked mission. In truth, it's an A ranked mission. A very evil man, Gatouu, is after my life." Tazuna answered.

"Gatouu, from the Gatouu Company? He's one of the world's richest men. What's a man like that doing in wave country?" Sasuke asked.

"He came to Wave about three years ago, and through money and violence took over the entire country. He now has a monopoly on all import and export into the country due to his shipping business. The only thing he has left to fear is the completion of the bridge." Tazuna answered.

"Since you're building the bridge that makes you his biggest enemy." Naruto commented.

"Correct. Gatouu is involved in all sorts of illegal activities, from drugs to weapons, and if the bridge were completed, he wouldn't be able to maintain the price gouging that he's been able to live off of for so long." Tazuna replied.

"Why did you lie about the danger of the mission? If we had known how bad the situation was, we would have sent a team of jonin and chunin to protect you, not a newly formed genin team." Itachi asked.

"To tell you the truth, Gatouu is the only person in Wave with any serious money. Even our Daimyo has almost no money, there would be no way that we could afford the expense of an A ranked mission. I understand if you wish to cancel the mission, it wouldn't mean much to me. Oh, my daughter might not ever forgive Konoha, and my cute little grandson might cry a bit, but it wouldn't mean much in the long run."

"We won't abandon the mission, but we shouldn't rush into this blindly. We'll go to your house, then we'll decide on our course of action." Itachi said, taking a bite out of his meal.

_I just hope that we make it that far. It won't be chunin level ninja next time, it'll be a jonin, and I don't think that the kids will be able to handle it._ Itachi thought grimly.

**A/N: Another chapter down. Next chapter is Team Seven versus Zabuza, and you guys will get to see some more of 'berserker Naruto' and his attitude shift. Sorry for not defining it very well in the chapter, but the reason most people are scared of making Naruto mad is that they know he's a berserker and that strong emotions are what make berserkers dangerous. As always, constructive criticism welcome, flames will be noted and extinguished, and let me know what you think. Please, if you review don't just put 'Please update', let me know what you really think! This is your one and only Shining Pheonix, signing off!**


	11. Battle! Mist Assassin Zabuza!

**In response to all of the PM's and reviews I'm getting, yes, I have seen XxXKyuubiNarutoXxX's story, and yes, I did start writing mine long before he started his. Please stop messaging me regarding this, I am working on talking with him about this issue!**

**Chapter 11: Battle! Mist Assassin Zabuza!**

"Wow, it's huge!" Naruto said in awe. Team 7 and their employer were currently in a boat traveling up one of the many rivers of Wave country. "True, and that's why Gatouu considers it such a threat. A small bridge he can buy and control, but a bridge this size can be used for mass transport of people and goods, uncontrollable by any one person." Tazuna responded, noting with pleasure the look on the kids faces at their first sight of the bridge.

"Tazuna-san, we'll follow the part of the river with the most vegetation. It will make us harder to spot." The boat pilot commented to the elderly bridge builder.

"Won't that be harder to paddle through?" Sakura asked.

"Hai, but we have little choice, if we are spotted we are easy pray for enemies." The pilot answered.

"If we're going through vegetation, I can pull us along." Naruto said.

"I don't see how, unless you can walk on water and pull us with a rope." The pilot responded doubtfully.

"Nah, I got something much better in mind." Naruto answered. Without warning, the plants started to propel the boat along at a rapid pace.

"H-how is t-this possible?" the pilot asked, frightened.

"I can control plants; it doesn't matter where they are. I'm just making them push us along, it saves energy this way, and there's less chance we'll be heard if we aren't splashing around with paddles." The kitsune boy replied nonchalantly.

After five minutes of 'petal powered' travel, the group reached their destination, a small pier that Tazuna claimed was the closest to his home. After the ninja team had disembarked, the pilot started the motor at the back of his small boat and motored away.

"Now, let's get going." Itachi said. He wanted to get his team into some defensible position, he had no doubt that their enemies were already on the move and that they wouldn't hesitate to kill his three genin as well as himself to get what they wanted. _Not that I couldn't handle just about anything that they throw at us, but I won't be able to do a damn thing if they try to attack the kids while I'm occupied with another opponent._ Itachi thought, slightly worried.

As the group passed by a group of bushes, Sasuke and Naruto both threw a senbon into the brush at the same time. "Thought we saw someone there." Sasuke answered for both as his cousin and teammate checked the brush. Just below where the needles had struck into the tree trunk was a snow white rabbit, the needles mere centimeters above its head right between the ears. "Poor bunny, you shouldn't spook people like that." Sakura said as she scooped the rabbit up. _That's a snow rabbit, but there only white when they haven't been in the sun for a long time. That means it was meant for kawarimi, they were right, someone was there! _Itachi thought, the pieces falling into place in his mind.

"Everyone, down NOW!" Itachi ordered, tackling Sakura and Tazuna while Naruto and Sasuke both dove for the ground. In the space where their heads had just occupied a huge sword flew through the air like a shuriken, burying itself halfway in the tree trunk. "Excellent, it seems that you aren't an ordinary jonin or your team ordinary genin. I wandered how you managed to beat the Demon Brothers without taking any real injuries, but now it seems I'll be able to find out first hand!" said the figure who appeared on the sword's handle.

"Zabuza, ranked number twelve in the BINGO book, Hidden Mist's greatest assassin and one of their legendary 'Seven Swordsmen'. Damn, don't we get all the luck?" Naruto commented dryly as he and Sasuke stood back up. Naruto had already drawn his katana and Sasuke had pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves, both preparing to use their respective EX styles. "Team, go to swastika formation." Itachi ordered.

His team didn't miss a beat and instantly formed a protective triangle around Tazuna, all facing out. "Aniki, are you sure you want to fight him alone?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't think like that. This guy is on a completely different level than the two we fought earlier. Right now, our biggest concern is to protect Tazuna-san." Itachi said, never taking his eyes off his opponent.

"Hmm, it seems that you won't let me fulfill my objectives that easily, but I doubt that you'll be able to fight me and protect your little team all at the same time." Zabuza said.

"Don't have to, but you'll still be a little bit fun to fight unless I activate these." Itachi said, activating his normal Sharingan.

"Ahh, you must be Sharingan no Itachi, it truly is an honor!" Zabuza said, mildly impressed. With that, the nuke-nin flipped off the sword, pulling it from the trunk of the tree and landed in the middle of a small lake. "**Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu.**" Zabuza said, raising one arm straight up. Mist started rolling off the lake, reducing visibility to zero. _Damn, the killer intent rolling off of those two, I can't stand it! A jonin, determined to make his kill, knowing that your life is in his hands, you almost want to kill yourself just to end the suspense!_ Sasuke thought grimly, his hands balling into fists so tightly that if he wasn't gloved would have cut them open.

"Don't worry, Otouto. I won't let any of you die." Itachi said, reassuring his team.

"Do you really think you'll be able to do that?" a voice asked, seemingly from everywhere. "There are eight vital targets: throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, the jugular vein, the subclavian vein, kidneys and heart. Which vital, deadly target should I attack first?" Zabuza suddenly appeared in front of Tazuna, his sword ready to kill both the bridge builder and the genin in one slash. As he attempted to go through with that course of action a vine stopped his sword in midair and held it fast. _What's going on!_ Zabuza thought.

"Surprised? Don't be, my student Naruto can control plants. It's an Absolute Defense!" Itachi said, appearing in front of Zabuza, kunai drawn. "Just watch this then!" Zabuza roared both himself and the sword turning into puddles of water. _Kuso! Mizu Bunshin! _Itachi cursed silently. "Aniki, behind you!" Naruto shouted. Itachi spun around, stabbing Zabuza in the gut with his kunai, the nuke-nin had been trying to attack Itachi from behind. Instead of blood pouring from the wound, water poured out, 'Zabuza' was nothing more than another Mizu Bunshin. "Look out!" Sasuke shouted, hoping that his brother would duck in time. He was too late, 'Itachi' was sliced in half, and 'Zabuza' was slain by a shuriken. _Crap, he was able to copy my Mizu Bunshin technique in this fog!_ Zabuza cursed.

"Don't move, it's game over for you, Zabuza!" Itachi said, a kunai pressed to the nuke-nin's throat.

"Oh really? I don't think so!" replied the masked ninja, once again dissolving into water. Itachi leapt forward, barely dodging a downward slash from Zabuza. Unfortunately, this landed Itachi right in the middle of the river.

"I have you now! **Suirou no Jutsu**!" Zabuza shouted, trapping Itachi in a large sphere of water. _Crap, I played right into his hand! It's all up to Sasuke and Naruto now!_ Itachi cursed.

Zabuza formed another Mizu Bunshin on land, who drew his sword and charged. "You really think that you can just trap my aniki and get away with it? You fool." Sasuke said, drawing a handful of senbon. Suddenly, the entire group sensed a massive amount of killer intent. Sasuke looked over at his cousin, and saw _something_ seem to explode within him.

Naruto seemed to just disappear, then reappear an inch to Zabuza's left, fist reared back. "TAKE THIS!" He roared, punching the clone with all of his power. The clone went flying a good 60 feet. "Holy. Fuck." Zabuza said, quickly forming another clone. _There's no possible way he could be that strong! The kid can't possibly be human!_ Zabuza thought, trying to assess his situation.

"Sakura, take Tazuna and run!" Sasuke ordered.

"Nani? Why should I?" the pink haired genin asked.

"Because he can't control the bunshin if it gets more than a certain distance away from his body. Go, Nii-chan and I can handle this." The raven haired boy said.

"But I thought we didn't abandon our comrades?" Sakura asked.

"You aren't abandoning us, you're making a tactical withdrawal, moving the enemies target out of his reach. Don't talk anymore, just run!"

Sakura did as ordered, and Sasuke prepared to back up his cousin.

_Time for the old tried and true._ Naruto thought, forming a hand seal. "Kage bunshin no jutsu." He said, causing fifty shadow clones to appear.

"Hmm, Kage Bunshins, and a lot of them." The clone said, looking mildly impressed. "Too bad, though, you can't beat me with just clones. Prepare yourself!" without further warning, the clone drew it's sword and rushed the clones.

"Bad move, Thousand Blade Tempest!" the clones shouted in unison, tossing up impact shuriken in the air. _This does not look good. _Zabuza thought, slightly worried. The clone rushed forward, slicing several Narutos in half and sending several more flying. "Nii-san, catch!" the 'real' Naruto shouted, tossing a folded fuuma shuriken to his cousin. An instant later the rest of the Narutos as well as the copy of Zabuza were pelted with 50,000 impact shuriken. Zabuza went wide eyed with surprise, he had never seen anyone use that particular technique with explosives before, and he could see that the results were rather hard to argue with. There was a rather large hole where his copy should have been, and there was only a single visible kage bunshin still standing.

"Prepare, yourself! Fuuma shuriken, Shadow Windmill!" Sasuke said, opening the shuriken. He flipped into the air for momentum and threw the windmill throwing star at the real Zabuza.

"Feh, unmodified shuriken are useless against me!" Zabuza said, catching the shuriken. And nearly got his arm ripped off for his troubles. _Fuck! Just how strong are these kids!? _He silently cursed. Looking up, he realized his troubles were just beginning. _A second shuriken in the shadow of the first?!_ Zabuza jumped over the second throwing star, looking back to land to see a smirking Sasuke.

"At least your using your head as well as that brute strength, too bad you missed." Zabuza commented.

"Did he?" Itachi asked.

Zabuza looked behind him and found that the second shuriken had just transformed into Naruto, katana raised.

"**EX Blade Style: Throw Blade!**" Naruto shouted just before going under, sending the blade of energy between Zabuza and the water prison. Rather than lose his arm, Zabuza dropped the water prison technique and jumped backwards.

"Excellent performance, making me chose between losing my arm or dropping my jutsu. Still, no mimicking apes are going to defeat me!" Zabuza said.

"You didn't drop your jutsu; it was unraveled by the teamwork of brothers! But now, we have it out, no more tricks!" Itachi said, preparing to fight Zabuza once more.

"Feh, you think you can beat me? Then take this!" both Zabuza and Itachi started forming hand seals, ending on the rooster seal. "**Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu!**" they cried at the same time. Dragons made of water burst from the river behind each ninja, crashing into and canceling one another out. When the splash fell down, Zabuza and Itachi were deadlocked against one another, Zabuza with his giant sword and Itachi with his katana, each exerting the exact same amount of force into their weapons.

_Crap, he's got that…_ Zabuza thought.

"Sickeningly evil glint in his eye, right?" Itachi finished.

_Fuck, can he…_

"Read my mind?" Itachi finished again.

"Feh, you're just a mimicking parrot, I'm the genuine article. I'll shut that beak of your's for good!" Zabuza said, jumping back.

"Very well then, lets see just how much of a genuine article you are!" Itachi replied.

Both started forming hand seals again, but Zabuza saw something that made him lock up completely. _I-is that me?_ He thought, seeing a copy of himself appear behind Itachi. He didn't realize that Itachi had already finished the string of seals. "**Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu**!" Itachi shouted, sending a large blast of water at the stunned nuke-nin.

"What, can you see the future?" the downed nin asked, staring up at Itachi.

"I foresee your death!" Itachi said, raising his katana.

Before Itachi could strike, two senbon struck Zabuza in the back of the neck, causing him to fall over. "It looks like your prediction came true, Zabuza really did die." Said a young feminine voice.

Naruto surfaced to see a young girl about his age in a Kiri hunter-nin mask with pigtails standing on a tree branch. Itachi walked over to Zabuza's body, checking for a pulse. _He really is dead! A hunter nin that young, this seems fishy._ Itachi thought, looking up at the girl.

"Gomen for taking away your kill, but I have been looking for a chance to kill Zabuza for several weeks now. Your work with him is done, and I must dispose of the body, lest it gives up our secrets." The girl said, picking up Zabuza and using a teleportation jutsu.

"Damn, a hunter nin. I guess that we only were able to help her finish her job, but we still have ours to do." Sasuke said, helping Naruto out of the water.

"Your right, lets go get Sakura and Tazuna and get to his house. Are you feeling alright Otouto?" Itachi asked Naruto.

"Mostly, just a headache. Didn't mean to use up all that emotional energy all at once." The kitsune boy replied weakly, supported by Sasuke's shoulder. Itachi nodded, he knew that there were downsides to berserker powers, and Naruto was feeling the aftereffects. "Don't worry too much, we'll get to Tazuna's house and then you can sleep." Itachi said.

"That was incredible! I thought you guys were just jokers when we left your village, now I can see that your much more than anything I had hoped for!" Tazuna exclaimed.

"We're not out of danger just yet, let's hurry on." Itachi said.

"Yes, of course." Tazuna agreed.

--Elsewhere—

The hunter-nin set Zabuza's body down on his side, carefully removing the senbon from his neck. Immediately after the needles where removed, Zabuza got back up.

"Damn, those kids are stronger than anyone could possibly guess just by looking at them. Haku, hand me my bottle." Zabuza said, sitting up and rubbing his neck.

"Zabuza-san, you really should cut back on your alcohol consumption." The girl replied, holding the bottle just out of reach.

"I know, but let me indulge in this vice just once. I'll need about three days to get back up to 100, but after that, we pay our little friends from out of town a visit." Zabuza said, taking the bottle from the girl.

_I just hope that nothing bad happens to you between now and then. I can't stand the thought of losing my last precious person!_ Haku thought, eyeing the elder nin critically.

**A/N: Well, you guys asked for bigger fight scenes, you got bigger fight scenes! I hadn't really planned on this, but I'm doing it any way, should Sasuke be paired with Haku? Also, just to clarify, Naruto is exhausted after going berserk because berserkers, instead of burning chakra for power, burn emotional energy, which is much more powerful but is in far less supply. Naruto can burn power from any emotion he felt powerfully within the last 24 hours. Next chapter will introduce a new power I thought up for Sasuke, as well as reveal a bit more of the back story of the members of the team. Voting ends on Wednesday, November 15. Please Read and Review! This is your one and only Shining Pheonix signing off.**


	12. The Icy Healer

**Chapter 12: Tree Walking and Herbs. The Icy Healer, Haku!**

"Alright guys, watch closely. The exercise I'm about to show you will help you increase your chakra control, as well as raise your chakra reserves." Itachi lectured, standing in front of a tree. "This is known as the 'no hands tree climbing' exercise. To perform it, you must funnel chakra to your feet, and then hold it there. As you hold the chakra in your feet, you can climb up the tree without using your hands." He demonstrated this, walking up the tree perfectly parallel to the ground. "A word of caution, however. The feet are the hardest part of the body to manipulate chakra in, as such the odds of you losing control is high, so be careful there is nothing under you to break your fall."

"We'll be careful, aniki, don't worry." Naruto said, once again in a more playful mood after a good nights sleep.

"This looks like it should be fun, race you to the top, Nii-chan!" Sasuke challenged, drawing a kunai to mark off distance.

"With pleasure!" Naruto responded, also drawing a kunai.

Sakura sighed, but she also drew a kunai, in the few weeks that she had been a member of Team 7, she had grown use to these bouts of sibling rivalry the occasionally sprung up between the two. More often than not, she served either as referee in a physical match or as a standard in an academic challenge. Not that she minded, she rather enjoyed having friendly competition, it was just that the two, once started, never seemed to know when to quit.

"Whenever your ready, Sakura-san." Naruto said, indicating that they were ready to start.

"Alright, on your mark, get set, **_GO!!!_**" she shouted, racing up the tree herself. Naruto got about a third of the way up the tree before he hit a slick spot of moss and slipped. Sasuke made it just a step farther than Naruto before he lost control and fell. Sakura made it halfway up before she slipped on another patch of moss. All three were caught by vines before they could hit the ground. "Good catch, nii-chan." Sasuke said as the vines placed them all gently on the ground.

"Thanks, ready to go again?" Naruto asked, indicating the trees and their marks where they stopped. "Ready, willing, and able!" Sasuke responded, readying his kunai once again. So it went on for most of the morning, until Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, called everyone inside for lunch. "Why do you guys train like that? You can't beat Gatouu, why don't you just give up?" asked Inari, Tazuna's grandson.

"Do you honestly believe that if you just give up, everything will be OK? It's that kind of attitude that will get you killed, little boy. Sure, Gatouu may be powerful, but he isn't invincible, and he sure as hell isn't immortal. Don't keep such a pessimistic attitude, if you can't win with the front door approach, then step back and go for the back door." Sakura chided, trying to get the boy to cheer up.

"You say that now, but you haven't been on the receiving end of his cruelty! He's a monster, and no one can kill him!" Inari said, running off crying.

"You'll have to forgive him, his adoptive father was the village hero. When Gatouu first took over, he had Inari's father killed to break the spirit of the people. Unfortunately, it worked. Only a handful of people here now want to fight, and they are all so scared for their lives right now that they won't help us openly." Tsunami explained, looking depressed.

--Two Hours Later—

_I wish I could have at least said something to cheer her up…_ Naruto thought. After lunch, Sakura had mastered the tree climbing exercise, and he and Sasuke had made it to three fourths of the way up the tree before falling. Shortly after Sakura mastered the technique, Itachi had told them to take a break. Currently, he was lying in a small clearing some ways away from the house. He was exhausted, both physically and emotionally, something that he had grown use to as a berserker, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. Naruto closed his eyes, deciding that worrying about it wasn't going to get him anywhere. Twenty seconds later he was asleep.

--Elsewhere—

Haku straitened up, a medicinal herb in her hand. She had been hunting medicinal herbs all day, her supply running low after treating Zabuza. The nuke-nin wasn't dressed as a ninja, instead she wore a simple ice blue kimono, her hair tied back in a simple but elegant braid. A bird landed on her shoulder, chirped, then flew off. Haku had to smile, she enjoyed the company of living things, and those that made their homes near or in water were her favorites. She heard the bird call again, this time from behind her. She turned around, expecting to see the bird in its nest. Instead, she saw the same boy who had nearly defeated Zabuza-san lying in one of the small clearings, the bird perched on his hite-ate.

Haku walked over to the boy and gently shook his shoulder. "You shouldn't fall asleep out here, you'll catch a cold." She said as the boy came around.

"Who, are you?" Naruto asked, his pupiless blue eyes bleary.

--15 Minutes Later—

"Is this the one you want?" Naruto asked, holding up a plant.

"Hai, that's the one." Haku said, taking the plant from the boy.

Haku was joyfully surprised; the young nin had absolutely no idea who she was, even if he suspected that he knew her. Also, the young nin had a near endless supply of knowledge of both medicinal plants and healing jutsus, something that she desperately needed and he was more than willing to give. _I wonder how he knows so much about medicine; he didn't act like the healer of the group when they fought Zabuza-san. Maybe he grew up in a medic family but has little aptitude for medicine himself? I guess it couldn't hurt to ask…_ Haku thought, eyeing the boy in question.

"Naruto-san, how do you know so much about medicine? You don't look like any medic I've ever seen before." Haku asked accepting yet another plant from the boy.

"That's simple, Obaa-chan is one of the best medics in the world, and she made me learn almost all of her healing techniques and most of the medicinal plants. The only thing that prevents me from being a good healer is my level of control, but that's the one aspect of myself that I'm desperately working on." Naruto answered, searching the underbrush for his favorite cure-all.

"Your 'Obaa-chan'? What's her name, I may have heard of her?" Haku asked.

"Her name is Tsunade, but she's my Obaa-chan, I've never called her anything else." Naruto responded, giving up on finding his plant in this country.

_TSUNADE?!! No wonder he knows so much! That also explains why he's so strong, it's either a family trait or something that she teaches to each member of her family._ Haku realized, being careful not to say anything out loud.

"Nii-chan! Come on; let's take another crack at that tree!" Sasuke's voice came through the woods.

"Gomen, I've got to go. Let's meet again somewhere." Naruto said, holding out his hand.

"Perhaps it will be sooner than you think, Naruto-san." Haku replied, shaking his hand.

--The Next Day--

"We're going to help with the bridge today." Itachi told his genin team.

"Demo, sensei, we aren't here as bridge builders." Sakura said.

"Did I say help with the bridge? Gomen, I meant we are going to be helping _at_ the bridge. Tazuna-san thinks that a new process might speed up construction time on the bridge, but he needs to be present to make sure that nothing goes wrong." Itachi replied, scratching the back of his head.

"I think it may be best if one of us stays here. Gatouu may attempt to kill Tsunami-san or Inari-kun while were away." Naruto commented.

"Good point, do any of you want to stay? It's going to be the more nerve racking part of the mission, it will either be very boring or unbelievably dangerous." Itachi said, looking his team over.

"If that's the case, I guess I'll do it. If things get dangerous I'll be able to protect them and if nothing happens I'm the one least likely to go insane from inactivity." Naruto said, stepping forward.

"Alright, you can stay, Otouto. Nii-chan, Sakura, lets hurry up before Tazuna san leaves us behind." Itachi said, strapping his katana on his back.

--Two Hours Later—

Naruto was laying on the roof of the bridge builder's house, chewing on a senbon. There was absolutely nothing to do, which was fine by him. Itachi had taught him about an interesting side effect to his Kage Bunshin technique, it let him feel and remember anything that happened to one of his clones, so while he himself was doing zilch, two of his shadow doppelgangers were reading through several scrolls that he had meant to get to, and two more were doing chakra control exercises, and a final clone was keeping an eye on the inside of the house. Sakura had once told him he was just being lazy the last time he had done this, but he said that he was at least being lazy and productive at the same time.

Focusing on the memories coming from the clone in the house, he checked up on Tsunami and Inari. The woman was doing dishes while the boy was reading a novel written by someone named J.R.R. Tolkein. Naruto sighed, it was going to be a long day, but it wasn't going to get to him. Despite what most people thought about berserkers, outside of combat, they were some of the gentlest people you could hope to meet. The only time when a berserker would truly become a danger to others is in a combat situation or when someone set out to piss them off, neither of which were likely to occur for Naruto soon.

Or maybe not. Naruto sat up, detecting two new chakra signatures walking up the path to the house. Naruto didn't recognize them personally, but they were garbed as samurai and bore the symbol that Tazuna had said was the crest of the Gatouu Company. His suspicions were confirmed when Tsunami opened the door and screamed. The samurai in blue punched Tsunami in the gut, knocking her out.

"We'll take her back to the boss, he said that we might even get to have a little bit of fun with her before we kill her." The smaller samurai said.

"Don't you want to get the kid? He might be trouble later." The larger asked.

"Forget him; he won't be able to do a damn thing." 'Blue' replied, shouldering the unconscious mother.

As both samurai were preparing to get in their boat at the family's dock, Inari burst from the house. "What are you doing with my Okaa-san!?" he demanded, a tiny katana in his hands.

"You honestly think you can beat us with that little thing? Kid, you're in way over your head." 'Blue' challenged, drawing his own katana.

"Finish him quick, I want to get back as fast as possible before that damn demon shows back up again." 'Brown' said, propping Tsunami up in the small motorboat.

'Blue' took a swing at Inari, only to find that the boy was replaced with a small log. "Missing something?" a voice asked the samurai.

Both samurai turned toward the bushes, finding Naruto there with Inari and Tsunami, as well as their swords.

"H-How the h-hell did you do t-that?" 'Blue' asked, visibly shaken.

"Simple," Naruto said, looking up this time, killer intent simply _pouring_ off the boy. "This place is surrounded by plants; I can make plants do anything I want. You guys let your guard down."

Naruto drew his sword, molding chakra into his hands and feet. "Now, let's see how you guys like being the ones weak and picked on. EX Blade Style: Field of Steel!" Naruto shouted, slamming the point of his sword into the ground. The samurai froze, dozens of blades springing up out of the ground around them. Before they could even twitch, Naruto used the molded chakra to send energy into his blade, which discharged between the exposed blades as high-voltage static electricity, effectively neutralizing the samurai.

"What were you waiting for?" Inari asked the kitsune boy.

"A hero always shows up at the last moment." Naruto replied with a smile. _But, if these guys are here, that means that there are going to be more at the bridge! I need to warn Aniki, no, I need to get there myself!_ Naruto realized.

"Inari, go and get your neighbors, see if anybody will help you. I'm going to the bridge to help out your grandpa." Naruto said, his eyes changing to Sharingan.

"Okay, be careful." Inari said, watching the kitsune boy run off toward the incomplete bridge.

--At The Bridge—

"What the hell happened here!?" Itachi exclaimed, seeing all the bridge workers either dead or unconscious.

"Welcome, Itachi-san. It seems you are a little late to the party, we were so bored that we had to slaughter these bridge workers to pass the time." A familiar voice in the mist said.

"That voice, could that hunter-nin have missed?" Sakura asked, shocked.

"That was no hunter –nin. Stay close to Tazuna-san, this is gonna get ugly." Sasuke said, sliding on his gloves and drawing a handful of senbon.

"It seems that the one with dark eyes isn't blind." Stated Haku, once again wearing her mask and battle attire.

"That may be, but let us see if he has the power to back it up." Zabuza said, forming ten Mizu Bunshins around Sasuke.

"Feh, Nii-Chan's Kage Bunshins are stronger than these, you really don't have anything that I haven't seen before." Sasuke stated. He threw the senbon he had at four of the clones, used his strength to introduce two others cartoon style, drew his kunai and finished off the remaining four. He did this all in the space of four seconds.

"Not bad, even considering that each clone only has a tenth of the strength of the original." Haku said, also drawing a senbon. "Now, let us see just how fast you are."

With that the two launched at each other, kunai on needle.

_Shit! He's strong, too strong to be a normal human! Good thing I'm not a normal human either!_ Haku thought, drawing more power from a seal placed on her stomach.

"Heh, you're right were I want you. I have already obtained two advantages over you that you can't overcome." Haku said, even though she was grimacing behind her mask.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, curious. _Kuso, this kid is at least as strong as me! She may even be stronger than Nii-chan without his 'friend'._ He thought.

"The first advantage is the water on the ground, and the second advantage is that I've occupied one of your arms, meaning that you can only run from my attacks." Haku stated. Using her free hand, she formed several one-handed seals. "**HiJutsu: Sensatsu Suishou**!" Haku exclaimed, stomping her foot into the ground. The water around the combatants leapt into the air, freezing into senbon in the air.

Sasuke's eyes widened, but after he recognized the pattern of attack he was ready. The needles dove toward Sasuke, aiming for all of his pressure points at once. When the attack was over, Haku stared at the pile of spent ice needles for about one second before flipping backwards, dodging three impact shuriken.

"Impressive, you managed to dodge one of my more accurate techniques." Haku said, mildly impressed with her opponent.

"It was simple, Nii-chan uses an attack that's similar to that, so of course I learned how to dodge it." Sasuke stated. "However, it would seem that our roles have been reversed; now all you can do is run from my moves. **EX Fist Style: Earth Slash**!"

Sasuke slammed his fist into the ground, sending a wave of energy at the ice-nin. Haku jumped, throwing several of her needles at Sasuke as she did so. After a few fierce moments of intense Taijutsu between the combatants they landed a short distance away from the others.

"It would seem that in terms of Taijutsu and simple ninjutsu we are evenly matched. The only way now to determine which of us is superior is for both of us to pit our most powerful move against one another." Haku said. Sasuke nodded once in agreement, preparing to form hand seals. _It comes down to this, whichever one of us is the faster at hand seals is going to win this, even if it's some form of indirect jutsu I won't be able to defeat it with just my power alone, **Nii-chan get your ass here!**_ Sasuke thought, hoping his cousin could hear his thoughts.

"Are you ready?" Haku asked, to which Sasuke nodded. "Good, then let's go!" Both started forming seals, unfortunately for Sasuke Haku's set of seals were three seals shorter than Sasuke's. "**HiJutsu, Makyou HyouShou**!" Haku shouted. Immediately, the water on the ground rose up to form mirrors of ice. Within short order both Sasuke and Haku were completely surrounded by the mirrors. Haku took several steps back and melted into a mirror. "I'm not out of this yet! **Hikari Endan**!" Sasuke shouted, holding his hand toward the girl in the mirror, palm first. Energy seemed to focus into the very center of his palm, then a massive burst of light burst out, slamming into the mirror that Haku occupied. After three seconds of light energy pounding the mirror, Sasuke's jutsu ended, but the mirror was still intact.

"A truly impressive move, Sasuke-kun, unfortunately for you my jutsu was faster. Now we begin again, this time a test of speed and accuracy!" Haku held several senbon in each fist, then moved so fast between the mirrors that she seemed to be in all of them at once. _Oh. Holy. Fuck._ Sasuke thought. This was going to get very ugly, even if he could use his Sharingan he doubted that he would be able to dodge a literal tempest of senbon attacking him from all possible angles. He could only hope that Naruto arrived in time to help him out.

_This isn't good, Nii-chan needs help if he's going to get out of that!_ Itachi thought, activating his Sharingan and going for his katana.

"Now, now, stay out of their fight, your battle is with me!" Zabuza said, stepping in between Itachi and the half sphere of ice mirrors.

"Damn you, Zabuza! If that's the case, let's finish this!" Itachi said, drawing his blade.

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Zabuza said, doing likewise.

After three seconds of high-speed kenjutsu (Sword arts) from the two jonin there was a large explosion. Everyone stopped fighting just long enough to see a giant fountain of sparks seem to erupt from a random point on the bridge. Sakura instantly realized what was going on. _Excellently done, Naru-kitsune._ Sakura thought, realizing that her blond-haired teammate was already preparing to assault the Demonic Ice Mirrors.

After twenty seconds the sparks went out. "A good attempt at a distraction, Itachi-san, but it won't be enough to get me!" Zabuza said, renewing his assault on Itachi, who parried all of his attacks perfectly.

"It wasn't I who set of the flares. Your apprentice is about to get a rude wake-up call." Itachi replied, battering down his opponent's sword.

Just above the mirrors, Naruto jumped off the tree branch he had used to get out onto the bridge without getting noticed, pulling out both his katana and his Fuuma shuriken. "Hey, Nii-san! Need some help!?" Naruto shouted, landing just in front of his cousin.

"Great timing, now she's got us both in here." Sasuke said dryly, his body full of needles that he hadn't been able to dodge.

"At least I didn't come empty handed, take this." Naruto said, handing the shuriken to Sasuke.

Sasuke's spirits lifted a tiny bit. The fuuma shuriken that he and Naruto shared were special in the fact that they could be locked together, making a giant shield (**A/N: it's similar to the shield boomerang from MegaMan Zero**). With a good offensive/defensive weapon in his hands he had a chance at winning this.

Sasuke and Naruto spent several minutes just dodging senbon, every twenty seconds or so one of the cousin's would get just enough breathing room to let an impact shuriken fly at a mirror. Yet no matter how many attacks hit the mirrors they didn't seem to weaken. After a lull in the attacks Sasuke realized something. _I can see the attacks now! I can trace her moves!_ He realized. "Nii-chan, try to get her to attack you!" Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded, seeing his cousin's eyes had changed into their active form. Naruto took a running leap at the mirrors, attempting to slice them one in half. Haku leapt out of the mirror to use her chakra-reinforced strength to overpower the kitsune boy. At the very last possible second Naruto jinxed to the side, a fireball directly behind him. Haku pulled back into her mirror, nearly getting singed by the attack. Haku decided she had had enough of fighting the two, the fight was clearly a draw, even with them solidly in her grasp they could keep her from dishing out any kind of real damage. _I have to end this now, or else none of us will leave this dome alive!_ She thought. With that, she sent several senbon at Naruto, appearing to aim for his vital organs. Before either Naruto or Haku could react Sasuke threw himself in between the needles and his cousin, taking the blow. Naruto was immediately by his side, supporting his cousin. "L-looks like, I w-won't get to, see you, become Hokage." Sasuke said, exhausted.

"Don't talk crazy! Just wait a moment and we'll get you to Aniki and he'll patch you up!" Naruto shouted, barely able to believe that this was happening. After a moment, Sasuke passed out.

"Was he, a precious person to you?" Haku asked, stepping out of her mirror. "I apologize, it's never easy to lose a precious person, but that is what happens to those of us who bear the title of Shinobi. We are expected to take and give our lives without a second thought, and no one cares if our minds and souls are broken in the process."

"Y-you… you killed him without a thought for his family, for his dreams! I won't forgive this!" Naruto shouted. Without warning, sheer _POWER_ erupted from Naruto's body, his eyes changed to what most would call the normal Sharingan, except that the center pupil was a slit, his whiskers widened, his nails lengthened. The power that erupted from his body spiraled away from him, coming back together above his head and taking the shape of a fox head.

_T-this killer intent! This ferocity! C-could he be…?_ Haku thought, a look of total shock under her mask. Before she could regain control of her body, the power all seemed to dive back within Naruto, and the boy disappeared, only to reappear, with a death grip on Haku's arm. Naruto pulled his arm back as far as it could go, pouring more chakra into it, finally he punched Haku, sending her flying through one of the mirrors that his display of power had weakened. The rest of the mirrors shattered, their master no longer using any power to keep them together. Haku stood back up slowly, her mask shattered into a billion pieces. She looked back at Naruto, expecting him to finish her off. Instead, he was staring at her, shock evident on his features. "Y-you, you're the girl I met in the woods, Haku." Naruto said, his body slowly returning to normal.

"What difference does that make, I ended the dream of one of your precious people? You were going to kill me for that, remember?" Haku asked, drawing more power from her seal just to stay standing. _Kuso, I shouldn't be drawing this much power! Just how much damage did those two short fights do?_ She cursed mentally.

"I said that I wouldn't forgive you for ending his dream, I didn't say that I would kill you." Naruto said, mentally reeling. _I burnt through all of my rage and anger in less than five seconds, not to mention the power that Kyuubi forced into my system; I am definitely going to feel this tomorrow._ Naruto thought, trying to drive the pain in his head from his mind.

--Meanwhile—

Itachi had finally been forced to use his Mangekyo Sharingan in order to disable Zabuza, and both ninja were on their knees, exhausted. Zabuza tried to rise once again, however, Itachi was ready for him.

"This might have been enjoyable if we weren't trying to kill each other. It's a shame, that a literal unknown like yourself is so unwilling to align yourself with some village or another. You are truly misplaced in the BINGO book, I would have placed you just a rank under myself. Forgive me, Zabuza, but I must finish this now. **Hikari Ken**!" Itachi shouted, forcing chakra into his sword. The blade started glowing, then thickened and gained an extra three feet in length.

"Go ahead and finish him, you'll be doing me a great favor." A voice behind Sakura and Tazuna said, the two having moved further back on the bridge to keep out of the fighting.

"And who are you?" Itachi glared at the short man, though he thought he knew the answer already.

"Gatouu, you bastard, you planned this all along, didn't you?" Zabuza said, barely able to hold his sword with his battered and abused body.

"Correct, I use you nuke-nin to do my dirty work, then I eliminate the nuke-nin by sheer numbers. This saves me money, and I get all that I need to done, it truly is the most efficient method of business." Gatouu stated. "The only thing that would make my victory over you even more complete is getting to have a little bit of fun with that cute little bitch of yours just before I killed her." He said with a lecherous grin.

"You would **_WHAT!?_** I won't let any bastard like you even look at Haku-chan like that!" Zabuza exclaimed, now giving off killer intent that would have made a demon proud.

"Itachi-san, this changes our situation completely. Since I no longer have any reason to kill the old man, we no longer have any reason to fight. I have two requests to make of you, as my final requests. First, take Haku with you. She's a hard worker, and she would make any medic a great assistant. Second, could you lone me that blade of yours, I can't seem to pick up mine any more?" Zabuza said, dropping his sword.

--Meanwhile—

"It would seem that we have a new problem, Naruto-san." Haku said, looking over the kitsune boy's shoulder.

Naruto followed her gaze and saw Gatouu and his men, as well as hearing part of Zabuza's request to Itachi. Just as he was about to suggest doing something about the 'short man', Sasuke coughed. Naruto and Haku were at his side in a second.

"I thought you finished him off?"

"Now that I can see where I hit, I never hit anything vital, if we pull out _this_ needle, he should wake up." Haku said, pulling out the offending needle. That was all it took, Sasuke sat back up hacking and coughing.

"Nii-chan, what's she doing here, where's the nin with the mask?" Sasuke asked, thinking that Haku was a different person than the Nin he was fighting.

"They're one in the same, Nii-san. Our problems are settled, and we've got a different set of them." Naruto said, pointing.

"Oh shit." Sasuke agreed.

All of Gatouu's thugs were armed to the teeth, and Zabuza was going to go up against all of them to get to the rat of a man who was rapidly making his way to the back of the bridge.

"Do you really think that running will protect you from me? I am the great Demon of Hidden Mist, and you are now my prey!" Zabuza said, charging through the thugs, even though they stabbed him several times.

"Demon? Don't make me laugh, you're nothing but an infant demon!" Gatouu said humorlessly.

"We'll have plenty of time to see that in Hell!" Zabuza said, and with one final stroke he cut Gatouu in half at the waist, getting his revenge for what the hentai had wanted to do to Haku and Tsunami.

**A/N: What do you guys think? Sorry that it's a cliffhanger, I really didn't want to make it as long as I did. For any of you who are interested, I have the entire plotline written out, and just judging from it this fic is going to be at least 32 chapters long, more if I get requests for something to be further explained. Also, Chapter 2 for my second fic, The Family of MegaMan Zero should be up soon, so please read and review both! Constructive criticism always welcome, flames will be noted and extinguished, and I will try to answer any questions you guys have via review reply, I won't be placing responses within the chapters themselves unless I feel that it's something that should be further explained to everyone. Ja Ne for now, your one and only Shining Pheonix signing off.**


	13. There and Back Again

**Chapter 13: There and Back Again**

After Zabuza finished his swing, three of Gatouu's men stabbed him in the back, attempting to finish him by knocking him off the bridge. Before he could fall off the bridge, Haku formed an ice mirror beside him and pulled him back to the group of ninjas.

"This is it for me, Haku." Zabuza said as the ice-nin laid him down. "Go with Itachi and his team; make a good life for yourself. Live a life that would have made me proud."

"Don't be foolish, Zabuza-san. I'll fix you up and you'll come with us!" Haku exclaimed, her trembling hands beginning to form seals. Zabuza grabbed them with his. "Don't be a fool, yourself. Go with them, you can gain more for the both of us by doing so. Remember the fallen, but go forward, let them rest in peace. I'll be waiting for you on the other side." Zabuza said, and so doing died in the arms of his apprentice.

"Such a touching scene, but to bad! Since he killed our meal ticket we'll have to pillage this village for everything its worth!" shouted a thug, raising his weapon.

"Sakura-san, Sasuke-nii-san, can you guys still fight?" Naruto asked, barely standing himself.

"Yeah, let's show these guys what we can do!" Sakura said, drawing two kunai.

"I've still got a bit of fight left in me." Sasuke said, giving his double shuriken an experimental spin.

Before either group could make a move, a crossbow bolt buried itself in the bridge in front of the thugs.

"A hero always waits for the last second, right?" Inari asked rhetorically, holding the offending crossbow. Naruto smiled weakly and nodded, noting that Inari had managed to rouse the entire village. The villagers were all armed with simple weapons, knives, swords, clubs and the like. This was obviously much more than the thugs were prepared to deal with, and most of them made a run for their boats docked at the side of the bridge; however a good number still stayed.

"Since it seams some of you are a bit to thick-headed to take the hint, I'll just have to teach you a lesson. The class is pain 101, your instructor is Uchiha Naruto!" the kitsune boy formed the seal for Kage Bunshin, and instantly forty shadow doppelgangers appeared on the bridge.

"Your assistant instructor is Uchiha Itachi!" Itachi proclaimed, shouldering Zabuza's sword while forming the same seal himself. Fifty shadow clones of Itachi appeared, all wielding the giant sword.

The remaining thugs decided that they had had enough, running and screaming like three-year-old girls to their boats, most not even making it to the boats and just jumping into the water, swimming as fast as they could to get away from the bridge. As the last thug left the bridge Naruto fell to one knee, panting, all his shadow clones dissipated. "You okay, Nii-chan?" Sasuke asked.

"Barely." Naruto replied, grimacing. Sasuke shouldered Naruto, helping him stand. As they turned around, the villagers cheered.

"N-nani?" Naruto stuttered, not quite comprehending what was happening.

"You were awesome!" Inari shouted, running up to the cousins. "You defeated Gatouu, and you saved the village! I was wrong, you guys did it!"

--Two Days Later—

"Rest in peace, Zabuza-san, I shall never forget you. I'm going to do as my heart desires now, free from the burden that our lives placed on it." Haku placed a lit stick of incense on Zabuza's grave, marked with a simple cross made of logs with his name carved into it.

"Are you ready to go, Haku-san?" Sasuke asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hai, I'm ready now." She responded.

"I wish you all a good trip." Tazuna said, shaking Itachi's hand.

"Come back and visit sometime!" Inari exclaimed, latching on to Naruto's hand.

"We'll try." Sakura answered him with a smile. After everyone had said their goodbyes the group of ninja started for Konoha, with a new friend in tow. "You know, we still have to name the bridge." Tazuna said.

"I think it should be called the Great Naruto Bridge!" Inari exclaimed.

"The Great Naruto Bridge it is then." Tsunami agreed, placing her son's crossbow over the mantle.

A short way down the road, Naruto sneezed.

--The Next Day, in Konoha—

Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Haku were all assembled in the Hokage's office, standing in front of the old man himself.

"So, you really wish to turn over a new leaf here in Konoha?" Sarutobi asked, addressing Haku.

"That's right sir. I wish to become a medic for your village. I hope to make up for my crimes by doing so." Haku responded.

"I don't see any reason why I shouldn't allow you to do so. In fact, I think I could arrange for you to be apprenticed to Tsunade, if you wish."

"That would be wonderful!" Haku answered, nearly ecstatic.

"That's great Haku; you'll be able to stay with us!" Sasuke exclaimed, looking far more pleased than usual.

"Well, since that's settled why don't you guys take Haku and show her around town." Sarutobi said.

--Twenty Minutes Later—

Sasuke, Naruto, and Haku were at the Uchiha family house, settling Haku into a room. "I thought that the Uchiha family was a giant clan, not just a small family." Haku said, placing her backpack on the bed of her new room.

"It was a giant clan, until a few years ago." Naruto said, his expression darkening. "Almost the entire clan was annihilated by a criminal organization called the Akatsuki. They did it because Aniki refused to join them, they apparently thought that the attack would make him change his mind."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to touch on a sore subject." Haku said.

"Don't be, it's something that I doubt we, Aniki, Obaa-chan, Nii-san, and I, will ever truly get all the way over but we at least try to fight our way through it, and were a fairly tight-nit family. And now, you're a member of it, so welcome to the club, enjoy your permanent stay." Naruto said, extending his hand and cracking a foxy grin.

Haku laughed, but shook his hand. "It's good to be in the club!"

"Now that the inductions are over, Nii-chan wanted to show her around town, and I think that a few friends of yours just arrived in town Otouto." Itachi said from the doorway, surprising the two pre-teens.

"Who are your friends, Naru-kun?" Haku asked, her curiosity piqued.

"With any luck, you'll get to meet them later tonight. You and Nii-san have a good time!" Naruto said, dashing out the door.

"I have to apologize for him; he really wants to see them again. It's been a while since they saw each other." Sasuke said as he and Haku headed out the door.

"There's nothing to apologize for, he went to meet with one of his precious people. There's no shame in that." Haku said, offering Sasuke her arm.

"Any place in particular you want to go to, Haku-chan?" Sasuke asked, taking the offered arm.

"Well, I really wanted to see the Hokage monument…"

--Elsewhere—

"Where you off to in such a hurry, Naru-san?" Sakura asked as Naruto attempted to get through a large crowd.

"I'm trying to find my fiancé and her brothers, they just got into town." Naruto answered, turning to a side ally and motioning for Sakura to follow.

"Why not give them a moment to get settled in at wherever their staying before meeting them?" Sakura asked, following her foxy teammate.

"Because they stay with us whenever their in town." Naruto answered, jumping on the fence that ran along the side of the ally.

"Just out of curiosity, who would wind up engaged to a baka like you?" Sakura asked, running on the ground behind her teammate.

"Naru-kun, who is this wench, and would she like her head handed to her for insulting _my_ fiancé?" a voice from behind the pair asked. Sakura slowly turned around, from the tone of voice that was used, she realized that Naruto's fiancé most definitely _wasn't_ kidding.

"Temari-chan! It's great to see you again! Oh, yeah, this is my teammate, Sakura. Sakura, Temari-chan. Temari-chan, Sakura-san." Naruto said after jumping off of the fence.

"I-it's a p-pleasure to m-meet you, T-Temari-san." Sakura stuttered, nervous at the oversized tessan that Temari had drawn.

"The pleasure is all yours, Sakura." Temari said, tucking her fan back into a special sheath on her back. "One word of advice, don't insult Naru-kun while I or my brothers are around. Same goes for Sasu-kun."

"Alright, now that the introductions are over, you want to go home so you can get settled in?" Naruto asked, picking up Temari's duffel bag that she had sat down to confront Sakura.

"Yeah, that would be great." Temari said, rubbing the shoulder that the bag strap had rested on.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Naru-san." Sakura said, deciding to make her escape now while she had an honorable out.

"Okay, don't forget that were meeting on the roof of the hospital instead of the bridge." Naruto said, waving goodbye as he and Temari headed in direction of the Uchiha household.

_Weird._ Sakura thought as she saw Naruto's katana sheath and Temari's fan. _They both have Konoha _and _Suna markings. What's the connection?_ She didn't have time to ponder further as she had walked back onto the main street.

"So, Sasu-kun seems to have finely found himself a girlfriend?" Temari asked Naruto as the walked toward the Uchiha household.

"Yup, it was love at first sight. They just got to that point where they are trying to acknowledge the fact that they are truly head over heels for each other." Naruto answered, shifting the duffel bag to a more comfortable position.

"That's good, he needs a strong, steady girl in his life, someone who can balance him out when you can't." Temari said, rubbing up closer to Naruto.

"Just out of curiosity, where did you dump your brothers?' Naruto asked, not resisting the maneuver.

"They stopped at Ichiraku's, Gaara decided that he could go for a bowl after the trip here."

"Sometimes, I think that he's a bigger ramen addict than I am, and if you listen to Obaa-chan and her story's about me, that's nearly impossible to do." Naruto said with a smile starting to form. "By the way, why are you guys back in town so soon, I didn't think that I was that overdue for a visit?"

"Your not, were back in town to get ready for the Chunin exams. I was hoping I could get Tsunade-Obaa-chan to teach me a few more medical jutsus, I heard that this year was going to be rough."

"The exams are really that close? I'll have to ask Aniki if first years are allowed to participate." Naruto responded.

Before the conversation could go on much further the pair stopped in front of the ramen stand. "Yo, Naru-kitsune! Been awhile, ne?" Kankuro greeted, looking up from his bowl. Before Naruto could take a step further a pillar of sand shot up in front of him, taking the form of a normal sized hand, in a shaking position. Naruto laughed as he shook it. "Konichiwa to you too, Gaara-tanuki."

"You've gotten a bit stronger, as well as better control." Gaara commented, placing his last bowl on the stack before paying his and Kankuro's tabs. "Last time I tried that your vines nearly suffocated me."

Naruto laughed lightly, remembering that incident as well. "Yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, you guys ready to go home?"

"Whenever you are, and we brought some of your stuff that we thought you might want for the exams." Kankuro said, motioning to the two extra duffel bags.

"Arigato, that saves me and Nii-san the trip down there to get the stuff." Naruto said, giving a comical sigh of relief. Temari laughed, deciding that she much more preferred Naruto's smaller antics to his medium scaled pranks. _I am going to have to get him to take up massive pranking again, it's getting far to quiet both here and in Suna without him and Sasu-kun causing some kind of chaos. _Temari thought, a slightly evil grin on her face at the thought of just what kind of pranks she would like.

"Hey, Temari-chan, let's go!" Naruto said, jostling her arm slightly.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" She said, shaking herself out of her daydream.

--Elsewhere—

"This place is beautiful, Sasuke-san!" Haku exclaimed, standing on top of the Hokage monument.

"I thought that you would like it, this is one of my most favorite spots in the entire village. Otou-san used to bring Nii-chan and me up here all the time. He said that this was the same place that he proposed to Okaa-san." Sasuke said, standing right next to Haku.

"Really? I guess that makes this place all the more romantic." Haku said, moving just a _little_ bit closer to Sasuke.

Things might have gotten just a little bit hotter between the two if Itachi hadn't chosen that moment to show up.

"Come on guys, the Sibs are back in town, and Tsunade-Obaa-chan wants us all to have dinner together. I also have something that I need to discuss with the team, so Sakura is coming over too." Itachi said, knowing full well what he was interrupting. _Soon, Nii-chan, but not right now, we have other things that need to be done, and you two really should wait._ Itachi thought, a slight smirk on his face.

--Back at the Uchiha residence—

"So Aniki went to get Nii-san and Haku-san?" Naruto asked, helping Tsunade set the table.

"Yes, and Sakura should be back over here shortly, Itachi wanted to talk to you guys about the Chunin exams." Tsunade answered, pulling the roast chicken out of the oven. (**A/N: I honestly have no idea if Tsunade can cook as per canon, so don't knock me if I'm wrong!**)

"So first years will get to take the exams? That's great!" Naruto exclaimed, nearly dropping his stack of plates in the process.

"Yes, and take it easy with the plates! Those came from my Grandfather, you can't replace them."

Before Naruto could come up with a comeback, Sakura walked in the front door, only to be greeted by Temari.

"Temari, if that's Sakura then let her in." Tsunade called from the kitchen, still trying to get the chicken from the oven to the table without burning herself.

"Might as well come in and make yourself comfortable, your sensei and teammate will be a few minutes." Temari said, motioning the pink-haired girl inside.

"I didn't think that you'd be here." Sakura said, sitting on the couch.

"What, you thought a fiancé wouldn't spend time with her betrothed and his family? This is where I and my brothers normally stay when we're in town." Temari answered, sitting down in one of the two overstuffed recliners in the room.

"You come to Konoha often? I didn't think that foreign Shinobi were allowed to walk through another nation's hidden village without a mission or some kind of special permit?" Sakura said, trying to break the ice with Temari.

"Normally you would be right, but I and my brothers, as well as Naru-kun and Sasu-kun are all considered both Konoha and Suna Shinobi, so we're allowed to visit whichever village we feel like. Actually, I'm in town for two reasons, one of course is to visit Naru-kun, the other is to get ready for the Chunin exams that take place in a few weeks, so there's a good possibility that you and I are going to be training together." Temari answered, feeling a little less hostility toward the broad-forehead girl sitting across from her.

After the ice had been broken, Sakura and Temari proceeded to start discussing several pressing Ninja academical issues that had made the news recently, looking to see what was truly the proper method for selecting higher-ranked Shinobi and so on. While the two talked, Itachi, Sasuke, and Haku all arrived, and Tsunade called Kankuro and Gaara in from the family's training ground. After everyone had eaten, Itachi decided to make his little announcement. "Alright, all of you, by now, have probably heard that first-year Genin Teams will be allowed to participate in the Chunin exams this year. I have little doubt that you guys are all ready to take the exams. However, if you guys decide to take the exams this year we won't be able to accept another mission until after the exams are over due to the fact that you will all be expected to spend your time training and studying. Any questions before you decide?"

"Just one, will you train us, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Not just me, Tsunade and Jiraiya have agreed to help out as well. So, do you guys all want to take the exams?"

The immediate response to his question was a resounding "HAI!" from his team.

"Good, then we start our new training program at 0700 tomorrow on top of the hospital."

**A/N: Sorry for taking forever on getting this one out, school's been a bit rough on me lately. I've decided to answer a few reviews that I've been sent, because I think that these are questions bouncing around in several people's heads right now.**

Genesis D. Rose- Damn, I hadn't meant for it to be so obvious, but you hit the nail right on the head. If you keep this up, you'll be one step ahead of me the entire way!

windmaster324- I'm only giving you one hint: Heaven and Hell. It involves Orochimaru, Sasuke, and Naruto. If you want to know more, wait for the next two chapters.

chichi- _Really_ good question. The answer is that the three refer to each other uniquely, Naruto always calls Sasuke Nii-san and Itachi Aniki, Sasuke always calls Naruto Nii-chan and Itachi Aniki, and Itachi always refers to Naruto as Otouto and Sasuke as Nii-chan. Technically, you're right, but I thought that would get confusing after awhile.

dragondancer123- I intend to only follow canon up to the second part of the Chunin exams, maybe a little longer. My story line is going to start picking up there, at any rate.

chm01- I plan on dealing with that little problem next chapter.

**As always, I welcome constructive criticism, any and all reviews are welcomed, and any flames shall be noted, extinguished, and added to my nest of ashes. As always, this is your one and only Shining Pheonix, signing off!**


	14. Elemental

**Chapter 14: Elemental**

Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Haku and the Suna sibs waited on the top of the hospital. Most of the group looked like they still wanted to be in bed, it was 7:00 in the morning, after all. The only ones that didn't look entirely smashed were Naruto and Gaara (**A/N: Think about it for a moment, both foxes and raccoons are nocturnal/early morning animals**). Within a few moments of the entire group's arrival, Itachi arrived, carrying a bag that looked like training gear. "Alright, boys and girls, before we start on training I want each of you to take one of these cards." Itachi said, handing out what appeared to be a normal 3x5 index card.

"What are we going to do with these, take notes?" Naruto asked, eying the card with a small amount of suspicion.

"No, I want each of you to apply a bit of chakra on the card and see what happens." Itachi ordered, pulling out a card to demonstrate. As he applied chakra to the card, the edges crinkled, as if they had been caught on fire. "See, this shows what element your chakra is, mine happens to be fire. Go ahead and try it for yourselves and I'll tell you what your element is based off of the card."

Each Genin looked at the card for a moment before doing as instructed, Sakura's formed a crease horizontally in the middle, Temari's card ripped horizontally, Sasuke's card formed two consecutive diagonal lines, Kankuro's formed a plus sign, Gaara's formed a vertical crease, Naruto's formed an 'X' shaped crease in the middle, and Haku's card formed a wavy ruffle in the middle of the card.

"Hmm, each of you has a different element, I see. Sakura, you're an earth type, Temari, you are a wind type, Nii-chan is a light type, Kankuro is metal, Gaara is a sand element, Otouto, you're a dark element, and Haku is a water element." Itachi said after looking at all the cards. "Good, now that that's over, we can get down to training you guys in the best way possible for your chakra type. But first, let's get some warm up's done. I know that all of you have passed the tree climbing exercise, so I want all of you to walk up and down the side of the hospital until I call time."

As the genin warmed up, Tsunade and Jiraiya arrived, each carrying a large scroll. "Got the kids warming up?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes, I thought that that would be best." Itachi responded, picking up his bag. After searching through the bag for a moment, he withdrew his hand to reveal a scroll. "Are you sure we should show them these? I know that they are going to need the techniques, but I thought we could lay off telling them about the seals until later."

"I don't think that there's any better time than now. Besides, I planned to use these to fix Gaara's seal, I thought that it would be appropriate to let them know what was going on." Jiraiya answered Itachi, unrolling his scroll partway. "Besides, with any luck these will give the kids a one-up on the Akatsuki. You know that they will come after them before long, right? They need the Jinchuuriki if they want to get the Gate open."

"I know that, but still, I don't like messing with them any more than I have to. If we backed off a bit, I'm sure that Temari and Otouto would get a lot closer together."

"That's were I just came from. Sensei has just given the orders to make the Kazekage step back a bit on forcing the two together, and I for one won't push. Even with us pushing, they are getting closer than the Kazekage is claiming they are." Tsunade responded, fingering her scroll.

"Back to the subject of the Jinchuuriki, have you gotten any closer to locating the other seven?" Itachi asked, addressing Jiraiya.

"I had a good lead, a young girl in Mist, but she disappeared when one of their swordsmen went AWOL on them, Zabuza I think it was."

"Zabuza? We fought him, and we brought back a young girl that he had been raising. Tsunade-Obaa-chan even agreed to take her on as an apprentice." Itachi said, remembering not to raise his voice.

"I think you may have stumbled on her, without even realizing it. This may work to our advantage, if we can find all of the Jinchuuriki first, the bastards can't open the Gate of Dreams. That's all those bastards need, a way to let the Chaos Demons back into this plane." Jiraiya said, looking insightful.

"Enough, I think we need to begin the lesson before the kids wear themselves out." Tsunade said, forestalling further conversation.

--20 minutes later--

After Itachi had called the group up from the side of the building and Jiraiya fixed Gaara's seal, the entire group gathered around the scrolls, seeing what was in them. "These scrolls contain secret seals created by Arashi, Fugaku, Tsunade, Orochimaru, and myself. They were designed as the ultimate in power boosting seals, but Orochimaru apparently left a way for himself to place all of the seals and let the most useful effect of his seal, the ability to alter the mind of the person he sets it on, to bleed through no matter what seal he placed underneath it. The Seal of Heaven, the Seal of Hell, the Neo Genises Seal, the Cursed Seal, and the Seal of Earth, they are the five most powerful seals to ever exist, and only Konoha or former Konoha Shinobi have the power to use them, and they are the basis for the seal I used to repair yours, Gaara." Jiraiya explained.

"Why are you showing us these, are you going to place them on us?" Temari asked.

"Not quite, we're showing you these so you will be prepared. We aren't going to even try to hide the fact that Orochimaru and the Akatsuki are after you guys, and Orochimaru will undoubtedly attempt to use his Cursed Seal on you guys. He developed a jutsu that lets him place his soul in a different body permanently, and he will likely want to use one of you as his next vessel. This is in part to prepare you for what's to come, as well as to show you what you will be expected to learn." Tsunade answered.

"Why will we have to learn these seals? I thought that the next group of Sannin were the ones who got to learn all the super powerful seals?" Naruto asked.

"Valid question, and technically I'm not allowed to say this, but I will. The Sandaime has you guys slated as having the potential to be the next group of Sannin, but that decision won't be made until you guys get to mid-Chunin rank at least. Even then, all the Hokage can do is ask you to become Sannin, he can't order you to that level." Itachi answered, slightly impressed that Naruto had the foresight to see into that question.

"Alright, so we need these if we want to become Sannin, but that is still only part of the answer, right?" Temari asked.

"Correct, the other part of the answer is the fact that these are yours by inheritance. Now that we've got that settled, I would like to get on with the lesson. Each seal has a slightly different effect, but they all have the same basic property of increasing some part of the owner's power by a given amount. Let's start the lesson off with my seal, the Neo Genises seal. It increases the users Chakra level by 40, and keeps enough chakra in store to restore the owner's body three times over, the downside to this is that in some cases it will shorten your life span, so be careful. Next, let's look at the seal of Heaven. It has three levels; the first simply increases the user's chakra by 200. The second level increases the user's chakra level by a factor of five, as well as marginally transforming the user's body to a form that is better suited to handle that amount of power. Its final level, level three, boosts the user's chakra level by a factor of 20, and reveals the user's mental form, that is, transforms the body to reflect that person's self-image. A major downside to this seal is the fact that the user can become susceptible to other seals, mainly Orochimaru's. The seal of Hell is the opposite seal, and its power boosts are the same as those of Heaven, but it transforms the user into his or her true form, the form of their inner nature. The drawback to this seal is that it is also susceptible to outside seals, and it can push emotional energy to unbearable levels, reducing the person's ability to fight. Orochimaru's Cursed Seal is by far the most dangerous, it allows him to influence the sealed person's mind, and it gives decent enough power boosts to make it a force to reckon with, and like the Heaven and Hell seals it has two levels. The first level doubles the user's natural chakra level, and the second level multiplies the level by ten, but if the person goes into the second level they leave themselves wide open to Orochimaru's mind control. The seal of Earth is the final seal, and it is a bit different from the others. It only has one level, and it increases the user's chakra by 60. The odd thing about this seal is that it gives the user a massive amount of ki – physical energy, making them incredibly strong physically." Tsunade explained, showing each seal as she described it.

--30 Minutes Later—

The group had split to start training in techniques; Tsunade took Temari, Haku, and Sakura while Jiraiya took Naruto, Sasuke, Kankuro, and Gaara. Itachi joined Tsunade, to learn some medical jutsus.

Tsunade and her group were in the training wing of the hospital, with Shizune observing and bringing supplies as needed. "Shizune, we'll need a fish from the koi pond." Tsunade commanded her apprentice. Moments later Shizune came back with a flopping fish, which Tsunade tapped using a green glowing finger. The fish passed out immediately.

"Okay, the test is simple, use chakra to both keep this fish alive as well as revive it. You have until the fish is ready for the deli counter. Sakura, you're first." Tsunade placed the fish on the examining table and let Sakura step up. Sakura focused energy into her hands first, then into the fish. _Come on, just wake up already!_ Sakura thought after two minutes. The fish wasn't responding to her chakra, and she could tell that it was slipping farther and farther into a heart attack. _Wait, heart attack? That's it!_ Sakura gathered the residual electrical charge that her body produced, coupled it with chakra, and sent it straight into the heart of the fish. The fish jumped, then started flopping around excitedly.

"Sakura, what did you do?!" Tsunade exclaimed.

"I realized the fish was slipping into a heart attack, then I thought of a machine that's used on humans if they go into a heart attack, one that shocks the heart, so I used my body's ambient electricity to shock the fish."

"Sakura, I want you to promise me that you won't use that technique ever again." Tsunade said, deadly serious.

"Why? Did I do something wrong?" Sakura asked.

"Because you could have easily killed yourself. The human body contains only so much electricity, and drawing off too much of it and it will kill you. The amount of energy it takes to shock the heart back to a regular rhythm from full stop is much more than what your body produces."

Sakura was shocked (no pun intended). She had no idea that she could have killed herself with that attempt. She heartily agreed with Tsunade, so making that promise was no hard decision. "Alright, Haku, you're next." Tsunade motioned, after Shizune had retrieved a new fish. Haku's attempt wasn't nearly so dramatic as Sakura's, but she did manage to bring the fish back to full health and consciousness. After Haku, Temari also demonstrated that she had a good grasp of the basics of chakra-based healing, so Tsunade showed the group a few of her more advanced healing techniques. All the time, Itachi watched with his Sharingan active, recording the techniques.

At the hospital's adjacent training grounds, Jiraiya was teaching the guys how to perfect their particular techniques. "Alright, Sasuke, try focusing the light as much as you can, really focus!" Jiraiya ordered from the sidelines, while Sasuke was desperately trying to control his **Hikari endan**. The sphere of light that gathered in his palm shrunk, from four inches in diameter to down to two, then an inch and a half, finally stopping at an inch in diameter. "That's great, now hold it!" Jiraiya commanded, trying to encourage his student. "I can't hold it much longer!" Sasuke said, obviously beginning to lose control of the destructive sphere of light. Finally, Sasuke let the energy go, throwing his arm straight up in an effort to not totally destroy anything. The blast, unlike the one he unleashed on the bridge, was a compact stream of light, and the blast went on for nearly a solid minute before Sasuke dropped from the shear force being exerted on his body.

"That was good, Sasuke. We're going to have to work on your control, but otherwise I think that you've got a good, solid foundation to work on." Jiraiya said, helping the raven haired youth to his feet. "Alright, Naruto, I want you to set all of those logs on end." The silver haired Sannin ordered, pointing to five massively oversized logs. "And I want you to do it without touching them with your hands, don't think I don't know what the hag has done to you."

Naruto gave a little bit of a pout before making a playful face at Jiraiya and walking closer to the logs. After sizing up the timber for a moment, Naruto forced the grass underneath the logs to push them up, then using the branches from the nearby trees to pull the logs up as well. Before Naruto could react, the log he was focusing on snapped up and passed the level he had been aiming for and teetered over. Naruto jumped back to avoid being crushed. "Not as easy as it sounds, huh? This exercise will help you control what's natural to you, so when you need to use fine control for any of your moves you'll be able to do so with ease." Jiraiya commented, walking up behind the kitsune boy.

After Naruto had gotten started again, the Toad Sannin turned to Gaara. "Alright, I want you to walk across the stream, without using your sand." Jiraiya commanded, motioning toward said stream. Gaara nodded, and then attempted to do so. He fell straight through the surface. "Just as I thought, you rely on that sand of yours entirely too much. We'll keep working on this until you can do both the water walking exercise and the no-hand tree climbing exercise without using your sand." The tanuki boy again nodded, completely understanding the logic of what the older man was saying, so he stood up and tried again, and again, and again. Jiraiya sighed, silently wondering if hard-headedness was a trait shared by all Jinchuuriki, or if it was just Naruto and Gaara.

After Jiraiya convinced himself that Gaara wasn't going to kill himself by drowning, he turned his sights on Kankuro. "Alright, I want to see just how good you are with these puppets of yours. I want you to use one to both split and stack this wood, without switching puppets."

"Fine, Ero-Ojii-san." Kankuro replied, taking his puppet scroll off of his back. He formed a few hand seals and opened one scroll, and brought forth his Kyuubi puppet. Using the puppets tails, he picked up one small log and sat it on the stump. Then he used the puppets claws to try and slash the wood down the middle. The log fell backwards, only a shallow cut appearing on the front of the log. "That's decent, at least you have accuracy, now we work on power. Try funneling chakra through the claws and releasing it just as you connect with the log. When you master that we can move on." Kankuro complied, but even with Jiraiya's hint it wasn't easy to cut the log. "It's a matter of timing, you won't get it right on the first try, but it can be done." Jiraiya encouraged, keeping an eye on all of his charges.

So things went, the groups trading instructors every other day. Soon, everyone was beginning to develop on a whole different level, though they didn't try to learn any more super advanced techniques. After three weeks the entire group had managed to complete the tasks set before them, while Naruto and Sasuke completely surpassed all expectations. Sasuke completely mastered his **Hikari Endan** to the point he could fire a blast so thin that it could go through a crack in the wall, and the resulting blast was so powerful that it could annihilate an entire building. Naruto had mastered the use of his mokuten bloodline to the point that he could pick up a single acorn with a blade of grass. Jiraiya had also taught him how to use his bloodline to cause a seed to create plants anywhere. Temari, Sakura, and Haku all grew by leaps and bounds as healers, able to heal most injuries in seconds. Gaara had developed to the point he didn't need his sand for everything, in fact he had grown to the point of only using his sand for defense. Kankuro had developed control of his puppets to a nightmarish level, he could control two puppets at the same time.

--Monday, 2.5 weeks since start of training—

Itachi called the entire group to the living room of the Uchiha household, several papers in his hand. "Alright guys, these are the enrollment forms for the Chunin exams. Take one _only_ if you are completely serious about taking the exams. You don't have to take the exams right now, so think about whether or not you want to take the exams now or not."

Everybody but Haku took a form. "You don't want to take the exams, Haku?" Sasuke asked, looking at the black haired girl.

"No, I don't think I would do well in the exams by myself. Besides, I don't have to take the exams right now, all I have to do is wait and get placed on a team for the next time." Haku said with a smile.

"That's fine, Haku-san. I'm sure you'll do fine whenever you take the exams." Naruto said, encouraging the young girl.

"Alright, if you guys have decided, then you need to turn these in to room 311 at the Academy by 3:00 this afternoon." Itachi said, dismissing the group. "Until then, the day is yours."

--12 Noon, the same day—

Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and the Suna sibs were enjoying lunch at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. Naruto and Sasuke were dressed much differently than they had been before. Sasuke now wore a black shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back as well as his white and blue forearm guards and tighter black shorts with ninja bandages from his shorts to his knees. Naruto also wore a black shirt with orange flames at the base of the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt, also bearing the Uchiha crest on the back. Naruto wore black with orange flame pants, and both of the boys' supply packs were three times the size they had been originally, with Naruto's katana placed and Sasuke's Fuuma shuriken placed in the small of the back.

As Kankuro leaned back after demolishing three bowls of noodles, he noticed a rock. "Oy, Naru-san, there normally square rocks with eye-holes around here?" he asked.

"Iie, why?" Naruto asked, looking up from his bowl.

"Because there's one right behind us." Kankuro said, indicating with his chin, being careful not to give any sign that would show to whoever was in the rock.

Naruto snuck a quick look at said 'rock' and laughed. "It's the Konohomaru Corps. They're a group of Academy students who look at me like a 'boss'. They're just a goofy bunch of kids, but otherwise harmless."

Gaara, deciding that these little ninja wannabee's needed to be taught a lesson, used his sand to quickly remove their cover, leaving Konohomaru, Mogi, and Udon completely exposed.

"Hey, no fair!" Mogi (**Don't shoot me if I got her name wrong.**) shouted.

"Heh, I expected that you'd use everything you had, you are my rival for the Hokage title after all." Konohomaru stated, walking up to the counter.

"Will you play ninja with us, Naru-kitsune?" Udon asked, giving Naruto and company a massive dose of puppy-dog-eye no jutsu.

"I don't see why not, we're all but done eating after all." Temari stated, placing her payment for the meal on the counter.

"I know, let's play 'tag'. You guys run away and we try to catch you." Sakura suggested, placing both her bowl and payment back on the counter.

"Alright, ReadySetGO!" the three academy students shouted together before taking off down the street. The genin finished paying for their meal before taking off after said students. The students wove their way through the not-quite-crowded streets, trying to make it as hard as possible to keep up with them and catch them at the same time. Naruto, Sasuke, and Temari took to the rooftops to chase them, while Gaara, Kankuro, and Sakura chased them on the ground, attempting to box the kids in. Finally, the kids took a wrong turn down a blind alley, running smack dab into a trio of Rain Nin.

The tallest of the trio picked up Konohomaru by his scarf, bringing him up to face height. "Hey, that hurt, runt. Do you know what I do to people who try to hurt me?" the Nin growled, making Konohomaru cringe. "Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size." Kankuro challenged, pulling out one of his puppet scrolls.

"Who do you suggest, you, cat-ears?" one of the smaller nin asked, pointing out the feline ears on Kankuro's suit.

Before Kankuro could respond to that remark Temari, Naruto, and Sasuke showed up. "Hey, drop the kid and we won't have to beat you into a bloody pulp." Temari threatened, pulling out her fan. "Hey, I won't let you touch one of my precious people and get away with it." Naruto challenged, drawing his katana. "I won't let you injure a citizen of Konoha without cause, you S.O.B." Sasuke growled, drawing two of his Fuuma Shuriken.

Before violence could erupt between the two groups, a rock hit the Rain nin in the hand he held Konohomaru in, causing him to drop the boy. Before he could blink, Sasuke had snatched the boy from midair, and Kankuro had used his tanuki puppet to grab Mogi and Udon. The rain nin looked up to see who had hit him. "You guys are a long way from home and way out of your league." Gaara stated simply, hanging upside down from a nearby awning. On the nearby tree branch, Sakura toyed with another rock in one hand and spun an impact shuriken on a specific finger of her other hand (**Guess**). "Feh, we don't need to kill you bastards here, we'll finish you off soon enough in the exams." The taller nin stated, turning the other way. He motioned to his two cronies and they disappeared down the alley.

"Konohomaru, you really have to start watching where you're running." Naruto commented, sheathing his sword.

"Gomen, Naru-kitsune." Konohomaru apologized meekly.

"Don't worry about it, and we'll finish our game later, but we need to get to the school." Sasuke said, folding and sheathing his shuriken.

"Okay, ja ne, everyone!" the Konohomaru Corps shouted, leaving the group to travel on to the academy.

--20 minutes later—

A large group of people were gathered outside of a room labeled '311' in the Academy building. "Feh, who do they think they're fooling? Such a low level genjutsu, even if I didn't have my eyes active I could have spotted it, after all this is only the second floor." Naruto commented, getting annoyed with the fact that it was the crowd, not the jutsu, that was hampering the groups progress.

"Hmm, glad to see we're not the only ones who saw through their little charade as soon as we walked in." a voice from behind the group said. Gaara turned around to find himself face-to-face with Hyuuga Hinata. "K-konichiwa, Hyuuga-hime." Gaara stuttered, trying to cover up the fact he nearly bashed right into her. "K-konichiwa, Gaara-sama." Hinata stuttered. She had started to harbor a crush on the redhead since she first met him on a trip to Suna with her father, and the feelings were somewhat mutual.

"Hoy, Naruto, what do you say we give these jokers a taste of their own medicine?" Kiba asked, stepping up next to Naruto.

"Yeah, I haven't pulled off a good prank in a long time, hope I'm not getting rusty." Naruto said with a mischievous smirk, already starting to form hand seals.

**A/N: Another chapter down. Hope you guys like this one, sorry that there isn't much action, but I needed to use this chapter to get some of the story elements and plot in place. If some of you still can't figure out what Orochimaru is going to do to some extent, just stay tuned, that will be dealt with next chapter. Also, some major changes are going to take place after that point, not the least of which is going to be that some of the characters are going to start communicating very differently, so I'm putting the legend here, it will _not_ appear anywhere else, so pay attention!**

"Blah"- normal speech

_I'm thinking-_ thoughts

(**Greetings all!**)- author's notes/me

**_ What do you want, kit? _**- Kyuubi/Shukaku/Leviathan/any other biju

This is gonna be great! Naruto/Sasuke to each other

**_Chaa!_**- Inner Sakura

**Okay, now that that's out of the way, I have a few reviews to respond to:**

**  
**Dakishimeru- to answer your first question, the only other major pairing is gonna be Gaara/Hinata, but I may add hints of Jiraiya/Tsunade if I really feel like it. As for your second question, Sakura's role is going to get bigger, and some seriously nasty stuff is going to happen to her before she gets stronger, but she will make it all the way to the end of the fic.

Kai Dragoon- I must give you kudos. You are the only person to date who has been able to see that, and it's been my private joke the entire time. If you can look back at the Bridge fight scene, you'll see that I ripped off one of Leviathan's lines from MMZ2, and I'll give you a round of applause if you can find it. As to the demon question, I tried to drop hints for that, but I finally must come out and admit it. Haku is the Jinchuuriki for Leviathan, but that fact won't be made known to the rest of the cast until after the exams.

narutopunk- I'm only responding to you once, read the rest of the fic.

**Whew, now that that's off my chest, I bid you all ja ne for now. Expect the updates to slow down for finals and Christmas. This is your one and only Shining Pheonix signing off!**


	15. Exams!

**It seems the document manager for did a number on my notes for the last chapter, so this is to prevent any confusion. No, this fic isn't going to become a Naru/Sasu, this is what that line was supposed to say:**

/Blah\- Naruto _or_ Sasuke to each other

**This will get cleared up in this chapter.**

Chapter 15: Exams!

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba huddled together for a quick plan of action, then, a quick kage bunshin and henge later, Iruka was walking up to the two 'genin' blocking the door. "What the hell are you doing here?! Stop blocking the door to my classroom!" 'Iruka' then proceeded to backhand both boys and walk into the classroom, where he promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke. At the back of the crowd, nine genin were laughing their heads off.

"Grr, you may think its funny, but we will still get the last laugh!" one of the boys challenged. He launched a kick at Sasuke, and Sasuke threw a punch at the boy at the exact same time. Neither blow connected. Standing in between the two, holding back both Sasuke's monstrous strength and the unnamed guard's hastily thrown kick, was a boy wearing green spandex with gigantic eyebrows. "You will drop the genjutsu hiding the stairs, or I let my little green friend here tear you apart." A cold voice ordered the guards. Naruto turned to see another Hyuuga and a girl in pink, both with Konoha hite-ate. _Must be the bushy-brows' teammates._ He thought to himself.

"How the hell did you guys see through the jutsu? The guy who taught it to us told us it was full proof." The guard who hadn't attacked asked, trying to put as much distance between himself and the group of incredibly strong genin in front of him.

"Feh, two Uchiha's, two Hyuuga's, and an Inuzuka make genjutsu fairly useless. Now, are you going to drop your jutsu or not?" Naruto explained, a bit of a smirk starting to play out on his face. The guards, admitting defeat, dropped the jutsu and stood aside, not wanting to tangle with a group of powerful genin in close quarters. The crowd filed up the stairs to the next floor. After going a short distance the twelve who brought down the genjutsu passed through the academy's indoor training ground. Without warning, the spandex-wearing ninja kicked out at Sasuke who, even though he managed to dodge the kick itself, spun over the railing too the training ground floor. "I've always wanted to have a chance to fight you, and I doubt I'll get as good a chance as right now again for a long time. Forgive me, I haven't even told you my name yet, and it is customary for the challenger to give his name first when requesting a duel, isn't that right, Uchiha Sasuke? I am Rock Lee." Lee proclaimed, landing on the ground in front of Sasuke.

_So, he knows who I am, but he still wants to fight me? I know that he's strong, he was able to stop my punch back there, and I am curious as to just what were up against here in the exams._ Sasuke thought, getting back to his feet.

"Nii-san, fight him if you want, but make it quick! We only have a half hour to get our forms turned in." Naruto called from the balcony.

"Don't worry, this'll be over in five minutes." Sasuke said, tightening the straps on his arm guards.

"Are you stating that you will be able to defeat me in just five minutes?" Lee challenged, getting into his preferred Taijutsu position.

"I never said one of us would win, I just said it'd be over in that time." Sasuke retorted, also taking a Taijutsu position. Before Sasuke could blink, Lee had rushed forward and delivered a straight arm punch to the jaw, sending Sasuke back several feet. _Damn! Looks like he's one of those few who specialize in Taijutsu, he'll be a tough costumer unless I use _these.

As Sasuke got back to his feet, his eyes transformed into his normal Sharingan form. _So, that's the Uchiha clan's infamous Copy Wheel Eye. I'm sorry, Gai-sensei, I may need to break your rule, I may need _that_ move._ Lee thought as he sized his opponent up. Before Lee could react, Sasuke had covered the distance between them and delivered an open-palm strike to Lee's chest. The impact sent the spandex-clad ninja into the wall, leaving a fairly decent imitation of the boy's body in the brick. Lee retaliated before anybody but Naruto and Sasuke could see, and even they had trouble keeping up. "**Konoha Senpu!**" Lee shouted, launching Sasuke into the air. Lee flipped, appearing right underneath Sasuke, as if his shadow. "It doesn't matter if you can see me move. If your body can't react in time to counteract me, then it's pointless." The bandages on Lee's hands started to unwind, and Lee appeared to be preparing for an attack.

Before Lee could make his move, a pinwheel snagged the end of the bandages and buried itself in the brick wall, causing Lee to pull himself into the wall instead of wrapping the bandages around Sasuke. "Lee! You know very well that _that_ move is forbidden!" a very large tortoise shouted. Neji and Tenten paled, knowing what was coming next. "Gomen, but I wasn't going to use it!" Lee tried to lie, knowing very well that the tortoise wasn't going to buy it.

"You were going to use it! Are you prepared to take your punishment?" the tortoise asked, looking very pissed off that Lee had tried to lie to him. _What, is the turtle bushy-brows' sensei?_ Naruto and Sasuke thought at the same time. Before either of them got to voice that question, a man with a bowl cut, green spandex, a Jonin vest, and the largest eyebrows anyone in the group had ever seen appeared on the back of the tortoise in a puff of smoke. "Ah, the fires of youth, all of you are full to the brim with it!" the man said, stepping off of the tortoise.

"Who is this guy, and what's with those eyebrows? Their almost alive!" Sakura commented.

"Don't insult Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted in defense of his teacher.

"Lee…" Gai started, causing Lee to turn around.

"YOU IDIOT!" Gai shouted, slugging Lee. "You…, you…"

"Sensei, I…"

"That's enough Lee, not one more word."

Instantly, the two glomped each other in a hug that left the other members in the room question just how deep their 'master/apprentice' relationship went. _I got beaten by some touchy-feely crybaby?_ Sasuke thought, decidedly not impressed with his opponent anymore.

"It's all right, Lee. You're young, and youth and mistakes go hand in hand. However, I cannot let your attempt to break the big rule go unpunished. Your punishment is to sweat after the exams, fifty laps around the village!"

"Just who or _what_ is this guy?" Temari asked Tenten.

"Unfortunately, he's our sensei, and yes, they are always like this." Tenten responded, slouching slightly.

Gai looked at Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. _Hmm, if I'm not mistaken, those kids are Itachi's._ Gai thought. "Tell me, how's Itachi?" he said.

"How do you know Itachi-sensei?" Sakura asked, slightly defensive.

"Simple," the bushy-browed jonin answered. Sasuke blinked, and the man vanished in the time it took his eyelids to close and open.

"He, Kakashi, and I are rivals." Gai reappeared behind Sasuke and Naruto, who had helped Sasuke up.

_So fast! He could give Aniki a run for his money!_ Sasuke and Naruto both thought.

"Anyways, you guys should go to the exam room already. Best of luck to all of you." Gai vanished, but not before using a kunai to knock the pinwheel from the wall.

"By the way, Sasuke, you should know that you aren't the greatest of the rookies from Konoha. The strongest genin from Konoha is on my team, and I intend to take him down. Don't feel bad, you're on my list of people to beat as well." Lee said as he re-wrapped his hands. "Anyways, lets go apply for the exams already!" the spandex-clad ninja vaulted back onto the balcony.

"What happened, Sasuke-kun? Why weren't your Sharingan able to see him?" Sakura asked after both he and Naruto had climbed back up to the balcony.

"It's not that I _didn't_ see him, it's a matter of reaction time. He's fast, faster than I am, and only the blood, sweat, and tears of training will alleviate that problem." Sasuke replied.

"Did you see his hands? They were all broken and bloody. He probably gets some kind of super-high level training, day after day. We're gonna have to up our training schedule if we want to beat people like him." Naruto commented.

"Heh, things are starting to get interesting. This Chunin selection exam is bringing things to a boil!" Sasuke said with a smirk. "Are you guys all ready? Let's do this!"

Team Seven and the Suna sibs (Team 8 split during the fight), walked down the hall to room 311. "Good, you're all here. You qualify for the exams." Itachi said, having obviously been waiting for them. "What do you mean, we qualified? I thought you said that taking the exam was an individual decision?" Sakura asked.

"You're right, I did imply that. You see, because of the way the exam is set up, it can only be taken by three man teams. Knowing this, you would have gone with Sasuke and Naruto just to make sure you didn't let them down, even if your heart wouldn't be in it. This way, you each made the decision to show up on your own, so you qualify!" Itachi explained. "Now get in there and show them that you guys won't go down without a fight!"

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke pushed open the door. Waiting for them on the other side was a sea of glares from the other students. _So many, and they're all gonna be at least as strong as us, this isn't gonna be a cakewalk._ Sakura thought, trying hard not to look as nervous as she felt.

"Sasuke-kun! Where have you been? I've been waiting!" Ino jumped on Sasuke, not minding that both the object of her affection and his teammates were giving her death glares. "And Naruto, what on earth are you doing in one of Sasuke-kun's shirts?" Ino charged, pointing at the Uchiha fan on Naruto's back.

"You should pay attention more and you might have already had the answer to that question, but for the sake of argument it's not his, it's mine." Naruto answered darkly, his death glare intensifying.

"Yeah, whatever, I think you just stole one of his shirts to try and look cool." Ino retorted, pulling down one of her eyelids.

"Naru-kun, you look good in your clan's proper clothing." Hinata said, walking up to the group.

"Wait, hold the phone, _Naruto's_ clan's proper clothing?" Ino exclaimed, doing a double take between the pale-eyed brunette and the pupil-less blue eyed blond.

"Yeah, Naruto is an Uchiha. If you had even bothered to pay any attention to him you would have realized that. Now get off me." Sasuke said, not really liking anyone who talked down to his cousin.

"Well, looks like the entire gang is here." Kiba said, walking up with Shino and Akamaru.

"Yeah, including the three stooges." Naruto said, gesturing to Ino and her teammates.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call us that?" Shikamaru asked, giving Naruto a dark look.

"Why don't you guys do the rest of us a favor and pipe down? We're all antsy enough as is without you guys and your petty arguments." A voice said behind the group stated.

Naruto and Sasuke turned to see a silver-haired Genin with glasses standing behind them. "You guys are all new genin, right? Just fresh out of the local ninja academy? All wet behind the ears and runny nosed? Just remember that this isn't a school fieldtrip."

"And just who do you think you are?" Kankuro asked, not really liking this guy for some reason, and not just the insults.

"The name's Kabuto and I just wanted to warn you, open your eyes. See the group behind you? They're Ama, Rain nin, and they've got really short fuses. This test has everyone on edge, so I wanted to warn you before someone snaps and beats the crap out of all of you."

"So, you've taken the test before? Then you know what to expect?" Sakura questioned.

"Heh, yeah, this is my seventh time applying. It took me nearly four years to get all of the data needed for the exam, but I'm willing to share some of it with you." Kabuto replied, pulling out a deck of Shinobi skill cards.

"What are these?" Kiba asked.

"Shinobi skill cards, they're used to copy information, store dossiers on ninja, store maps, or any number of other uses. Kabuto-san uses his chakra to burn the data into the card, and then uses his chakra to release that data." Naruto replied.

"How do you know that?" Ino asked, skeptical.

"Because Nii-san and I use them too." Naruto replied, pulling out a card from his back supply pouch. "I normally use them to seal physical objects into, because they take up less space. They can be pretty handy keeping a supply of fresh water and rations good in the field without needing a lot of heavy bags to carry it all."

"Quite correct, and my cards hold information on both the test and the current pool of applicants. This card shows what villages have sent genin to take the exam, and how many they did send." Kabuto laid the card on the ground and pushed a bit of chakra into it. The graph exploded out, showing a map of the ninja countries and who sent how many to the exam.

_Wait, I thought only the 'Kage's had access to data like this, how did he get it?_ Naruto and Sasuke thought, silent alarm bells starting to go off.

"Anyways, I have some pretty good data on all of the five major villages, but I've got next to nothing on Oto, it's a new village that belongs to a pretty small country, and I've heard nothing good about its Shinobi." Kabuto concluded, putting the card back in the deck.

"Do you have dossier cards? Cards for each individual in the exam?" Sasuke asked.

"I have info on most of the current pool of applicants. If you can give me some info on the person you're interested in, I'll look them up for you." Kabuto replied.

_That confirms it, definite spy. _"Rock Lee of Konoha." Sasuke stated simply.

"Good, you've got a name. This is his card." Kabuto showed everyone the card.

"Looks like every nation has sent it's best and brightest here." Sakura said, looking around.

"Yeah, Konoha, Ame, Kusa, Taki, Iwa, Mizu, Suna, Oto, all of the Shinobi nations have sent their best and brightest to this exam, it looks like it's going to be a great exam." Kabuto replied, packing up his cards.

Across the room, the three sound Shinobi were eyeing the group. "So, according to this dossier, our village is just a backwater town with sub-par Shinobi?" the female of the group asked. "Any votes on making this jackass change his analysis?" the nin wearing the Aku character suggested.

"Let's show him why his knowledge of we-who-hide-in-sound is unsound." The nin sporting bandages over all but the right side of his face said.

The trio split, the Aku wearing nin jumped over the crowd, the bandaged nin ducked down low, weaving through the crowd, and the female nin flipped across the tables. _Heh, so they took the bait._ Kabuto thought, glancing at the three ninja rapidly approaching him. The first threw a brace of kunai, which Kabuto sidestepped. The female threw a set of senbon, which Kabuto ducked. The bandaged nin was waiting for him, swinging a right hook. Too late Kabuto noticed the strange device on the Bandaged ninja's arm. Kabuto dodged backwards, with no room to spare between his nose and his opponent's arm.

"Impressive, he dodged so fast that I could barely follow." Shikamaru commented.

"No, he completely fell for the trap." Naruto said, covering his ears and grimacing.

"What do you…?" Shikamaru began.

Kabuto's glasses exploded, and he fell over, puking.

"What the hell just happened?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Simple, the guy has a device that emits some kind of sound wave. It's a level above that of most human hearing, but it still harms the human body." Kiba explained, also covering his ears and grimacing.

"How can you and Naruto hear it then?" Ino asked, helping Kabuto up.

"The Inuzuka clan has higher tuned senses than that of most people, and I'm not called 'kitsune' for no reason." Naruto said, trying to stop his ears from ringing.

"Here's something new for your cards, the three genin from Oto, definite chunin!" the Aku wearing ninja declared at Kabuto. Before any further violence could erupt, a loud **_BANG_** was heard at the front of the classroom.

"Hey, keep it down unless you want to be disqualified immediately. There will be no fighting unless sanctioned by a proctor, and even then out and out killing another student is strictly prohibited. Understood?" Morino Ibiki, head of the Konoha torture and investigation squad, demanded from the front of the group of proctors who just entered the classroom.

"Sorry, sir. We're new here, se we got a bit carried away." The female sound nin claimed.

"See that it doesn't happen again. Any further action like this and you will be deported immediately." Ibiki responded. "Now if you would all take a seat, we can begin this test."

After everyone had taken their seats and Ibiki had explained his 'Rules of Desperation' (**I really don't feel like writing that down**), everyone began the test.

_This is nuts, the system is set up so that it _forces_ you to cheat. I just hope that Sasuke and Naruto can both keep from getting caught._ Sakura thought.

Fifteen minutes into the test, just about everyone who had figured out what the test was all about were doing their best to cheat and not get caught. Sasuke and Naruto had both found the same phony student and were copying all of his movements, Neji found another phony and was using his Byakugan to see his paper, Tenten used chakra strings to move the mirrors in the lights for her and Lee, Gaara used his third-eye jutsu, Akamaru reported all the correct answers to Kiba, Ino used her Shintenshin to take over Sakura to find all the answers, then Choji to give him all the answers, a few, like Shikamaru and Sakura, figured out all the answers on their own. The only dramatic moment in the entire first part of the exam was when a proctor threw a kunai at the first person to get caught cheating, who happened to be sitting right behind Naruto. The kunai scratched Naruto's cheek, and severely startled the entire class. "Now, the next time, pay attention to the rules!" Ibiki commented. _The dumb ass, what does he think he's doing, scaring all of us to death? _Naruto thought. Naruto quickly snatched up the thrown kunai, attached one of his personal tags to it, and returned it to the original sender. The proctor caught the kunai, and got a face full of pink colored, foul scented powder.

_Damn, I forgot that Naruto earned the title of 'Number one Prank Master of Konoha' with things like this. Next time, aim _away_ from the cute little guy with whiskers._ Ibiki thought, watching as his underlings face was now dyed a lovely pink color.

After forty-five minutes had passed since the beginning of the beginning of the exams (and the proctor had had a chance to clean himself up), Ibiki called the groups attention. "Alright everyone, I will now give you the tenth question. Before we get to the question itself, I'm adding one more rule."

_Another rule, weren't the first rules enough? What can he possibly add that will make this test that could make it harder? _Temari thought, grinding her teeth.

"Let me explain, this new rule is absolute. First you must choose whether to accept or reject this next question." Ibiki continued.

"What happens if someone decides not to take the question?" a student from Suna asked.

"If you decide not to take the question, then you lose all of your points and you automatically fail, taking your teammates with you." Ibiki answered, point blank.

"Then why would anyone reject the question?!" students from all over the room shouted.

"Because of the other rule, anyone who gets the question wrong will never be allowed to take the Journeyman Ninja Selection Exams ever again."

Naruto mulled this over. _Talk about a real 'screwed if I do, screwed if I don't' scenario! If I take the question and screw up, then I'm stuck as a genin forever, which is completely unacceptable, and if I don't take the question, then I drag the team down with me and we fail for the year!_

Similar thoughts were reflected all around the room, with several outbursts of "What do you mean!", "There are people here who've gone through the test more than once!", and so forth. Ibiki waited for the rule to fully sink in, then he began again. "Alright, those who choose not to accept raise your hands. Once your number is confirmed you must leave the room immediately."

In the end, 58 more teams flunked out, and Naruto stunned the entire room with his 'Don't underestimate me!' speech. After the last person who quit left the room, Ibiki's personality did a complete 180. "All of you that have chosen to accept the 10th question… Pass!" he said, _with a smile_.

"Wait, you mean that the last test was just a complete waste of our time?" Kiba asked, slightly furious.

"No, that _was_ a test, a test of our espionage skills." Naruto answered for Ibiki, leaning back in his seat. "The whole point was to weed out those who have sub-par spying skills. Anybody who got caught cheating obviously would get caught by an enemy nation on whom that Shinobi was spying, and any of the information gathered couldn't be trusted." Sasuke finished, also slumping in his seat. _Damn, no wonder Aniki keeps telling us to not use our Sharingan for long periods of time. Just using it for 45 minutes was exhausting, not including my fight with Lee!_

_Hmm. These kids are interesting, they saw through the entire point of the test! Thanks to their meddling, seventy-eight of the applicants made it through the first part of the exam!_ Ibiki took stock of the room. "It seems some of you have realized that there are _eighty_ of you present, which is impossible due to the fact that you take the test as three man teams."

Naruto leaned forward and tapped one of the plants on the shoulder. "Next time, don't start writing right when he says 'go'. I caught you within the first five minutes." He pointed out.

"Thanks, I'll remember that!" the plant said, obviously in high spirits with the rest of the room.

"Okay, I figured most of that out already, but what was the whole deal with the tenth question?" Temari asked.

"Ah, the tenth question. That question was the first real part of the exam. I presented you with two options, both were no-win, unfair questions. This was meant to present a real-life problem, the problem of whether or not to accept a mission that can help your village greatly, but may wind up costing you your life. No chunin can go along accepting only easy missions, those who trade today's certainty for tomorrow's uncertainty are nothing but cowards, and, in my opinion, they do not deserve the title of chunin!"

Everyone sat back, digesting Ibiki's 'food for thought'.

"You've all passed the first hurdle. The first portion of the Journeyman Ninja Selection Exam is now over. I'll pray you fight the good fight!" Ibiki concluded.

"You can do that, but it will only reinforce the results." Naruto said, jumping to his feet.

Just as Naruto got to his feet, a bundle burst through the window. Two kunai planted themselves in the ceiling, pulling a blanket taunt. Standing in front of the blanket was Mitoroshi Anko. "You passed this many? You went to easy on them, Ibiki. By the time I'm done with them, I'll cut down their numbers by half!"

--An Hour (And an explanation) Later—

All the groups were waiting for their gate into the forest of death to open.

**A/N: Okay, so I didn't get as far as I planned to this chapter, but I promised you an explanation so an explanation I shall give. /This\ is supposed to occur after Sasuke and Naruto receive their curse marks, they gain the ability to talk to each other telepathicly. Theirs a little more to the way the seals are set up that lets them do this, and _that_ explanation shall come with the next chapter. I anticipate that this will be my last good update until next year, but I shall return after Christmas/New Year's break! Wishing all of you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, this is your one and only Shining Pheonix signing out.**


	16. Heaven and Hell

**Chapter 16: Heaven and Hell**

--At the Jonin hangout Jinsei Iroiro—

"Well, isn't this nice, having so much time on our hands without our subordinates?" Asuma said, leaning back into his bench and taking a long drag on his cigarette.

"True, and we won't be getting any new missions with them until after at least this next part of the exam." Kurenai replied, enjoying a good drink on the bench next to Asuma.

"Hmm, it could be worse." Itachi replied, leaning back in his padded chair, studying the contents of his shot glass. "We'll get to see them in five days, whether they pass or not. Then we get to help those on our teams who passed to get ready for the finals." He finished, downing the contents of the glass.

"Now Itachi-kun, I thought I told you to lay off that." A feminine voice chided through the door.

"Hmm, perhaps you did, but neither of them are here right at the moment, so I'm not setting a bad example if they aren't even here to witness the act." Itachi replied, refilling his shot glass with powerful liquor.

"That makes no difference, what would they think, them out busting their asses trying to make it through the next test, and you're here drinking and relaxing!" Shizune chided, walking through the door with Kisame right behind her.

"Long time no see, Kisame. How's life in ANBU with the scarecrow back in charge?" Itachi asked, ignoring Shizune for the moment.

"Not that bad, it's not like he can just stop in the middle of patrol to read that dirty novel of his, and he _does_ have some excellent things to teach, it's just his attitude that irks me at times." The shark-man replied, pulling up another padded chair and helping himself to a shot of Itachi's liquor.

"You guys are impossible at times." Shizune sighed, taking the padded chair next to Itachi.

"Speaking of our subordinates, I wonder just how their doing at the moment?" Kurenai said, staring at the ceiling.

--At the gates of the Forest of Death—

Team Seven waited at gate 13, mulling over strategy.

"I do kind of wish that Itachi-sensei had told us about the forest part of the exam before we started." Sakura said, twirling the team's Scroll of Heaven in her hand.

"Not that it would have made much difference, he did make sure that the three of us could survive for a week on our supplies before we left. Besides, worrying about it now isn't going to help any. Down to strategy, how do we want to get the other scroll, steal one from another team as soon as the exam starts, or set traps and get multiple scrolls?" Sasuke asked, watching as the last few teams handed in their consent forms fifty yards to his left.

"A combination, we should steal at least one scroll from an enemy, then use the traps to get extras in case something happens and we need more than one pair." Naruto said, watching clouds on his back.

"Alright, so we'll split up, I'll go and pick off a weak group that has the scroll we need, Sakura, you can find us a good spot to camp for the night, and Nii-chan can set up several traps to catch the enemy." Sasuke said, drawing one of his skill cards. With a small burst of chakra a pack of beef jerky fell out of the card, which Sasuke opened and started to munch on.

"You should take it easy on that, no telling how long were gonna be stuck in this place." Naruto commented, sitting up. "Looks like their ready to open the gates."

At every gate, a proctor took a key and unlocked the gates to the Forest of Death.

--Two Hours Later—

Sakura placed the last of her traps in place around her chosen camp site. Even though Naruto was the one assigned to set traps to capture the enemy, the team had developed a routine when camping out, which was to first set up the campsite, then to rig the entire perimeter with traps meant to injure or kill anyone who came too close without the team's permission. Even though it was the more nerve-wracking job, it had to be done and she was more than willing to do it. Just as she was about to turn back to the small cavern made of tree roots that she had made into a make-shift shelter, she saw Sasuke drop down from the trees just outside of the trap zone. Sakura went for her shuriken pouch. "What's wrong, Sasu-kun?"

"Nothing, I just got our second scroll." He answered, raising the scroll in question. "Has Nii-chan made it back yet?"

Sakura relaxed, only Sasuke would refer to Naruto as 'Nii-chan'. "No, but I'm all done here, and I was just about ready to start a cooking fire."

"Using the foliage to hide the smoke, not bad." Sasuke nodded, walking into the clearing. As Sasuke entered the clearing, Naruto walked up.

"Finished setting the traps already?" Sakura asked, setting up a ring of stones.

"Yeah, did you get a scroll, Sasuke?" 'Naruto' asked.

Before either Sakura or 'Naruto' could move Sasuke slugged 'Naruto', sending him flying.

"Sasu-kun, what are you doing!?" Sakura exclaimed.

"He's not Nii-chan." Sasuke stated simply, walking over to the imposter with a Fuuma shuriken drawn.

"Heh, how did you know?" the imposter asked, staggering back up.

"First off, you have two scars on each cheek, Nii-chan has three. Second, you called me 'Sasuke', something he hasn't called me ever. The biggest difference is that you have pupils, which he doesn't have without his Sharingan active, and then he would have three pupils in each eye, not one." Sasuke answered, attaching his Fuuma shuriken to his bracers.

The imposter dropped his henge, revealing an Ama nin. "How unlucky for me, I get the group who knows their teammates." He said, drawing a kunai. Before the Ama nin could make a move, Sasuke opened his shuriken partially and then rammed it into the tree trunk behind the Ama nin, trapping his opponent between the blades.

"Now, we can either do this the nice way, or we can do this the messy way, your choice. Hand over your scroll, and I let you walk away, or you can try to fight me and lose your head, and I take your scroll from your dead body. Choose." Sasuke said, using his free hand to slowly close the blades. The Ama nin, rather than losing his head, gave up his scroll and ran.

"That was incredible, Sasuke-kun. Still, how are we gonna know if someone tries to mimic you or me?" Sakura asked.

"Simple, we'll make a codeword. If someone comes up, no matter what they look like assume that they're the enemy if they don't know the password."

"How will Naruto know about the codeword?"

"We'll have to find him and tell him about the codeword. You better stay here, I'll go find him." With that, Sasuke rushed out of the camp.

--Elsewhere—

Naruto finished placing the last of his wire traps across the main path. _If someone wants to get to the tower quickly, this is the only path to do it, and the Konoha jumping leeches take full advantage of it. Anybody who takes the path will attract the attention of the leeches, and then they only have a few options of were to jump to after that. By setting traps were they're likely to jump to, I can easily trap opponents and leave them to dry._

"Nii-chan!" Sasuke shouted, jumping down from the trees.

"Nii-san, what are you doing here? Track somebody with the scroll we need here?" Naruto asked, looking up from his work.

"Not quite, we need to get back to the camp, now!" Sasuke moved to leave, motioning for his cousin to follow. Naruto obliged, following closely.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked as the pair ran through the tree braches.

"An Ama nin snuck into the camp, using a henge to look like you. I was able to beat him, but I came to find you so we can set up a code word so this doesn't happen again." Sasuke said, leading the way.

The cousins arrived back at camp without much incident, where Sakura was waiting.

"Okay, we need to set up a codeword that only we would know, something that can't be guessed easily." Naruto said, sipping water from his canteen.

"How about this, when someone walks up, say 'Nin song 'GO!'', to which answer 'We are fighting dreamers, dreamers going without a care.'" Sasuke suggested.

"That should work, but what if someone's listening? They'll know the code?" Sakura queried, looking around.

"Simple." Naruto said, calling Sakura's attention back. "We'll each pick a skill card, one that we aren't likely to use, and we show that card as proof." As he was talking, Naruto pulled out a skill card that had a picture of Sasuke's parents, Itachi, Tsunade, Sasuke, and himself before the massacre. Sasuke pulled out a card that showed himself and Naruto with the Suna sibs in front of the Kazekage's tower. Sakura pulled out a card that showed both herself and her parents on vacation to the Fire Country's capital, Central City.

"Okay, so we're all set, and we have a scroll set, so all we need to do is head to the tower, right?" Sakura asked, standing back up.

"True, and the sooner we're out of this forest, the better." Sasuke answered, tucking his spare fuuma shuriken back into its holster.

"I just hope that Temari-chan and the others are okay." Naruto said, a dark look in his eyes.

--Somewhere near the Forest of Death—

"That's three bodies, total." A jonin proctor stood up, examining the three dead ninja laid out in front of him.

"What the hell could do this?" one of the other proctors asked, examining the body closer.

"I don't know, and I don't think I want to know." The first proctor replied. "Go get Anko-san, she needs to see this."

--At the Entrance to the Forest of Death—

"Mmm, nothing better than juice and dango." Anko mumbled around mouthfuls of said food. After biting the last piece of dango off the stick, Anko threw the stick against a tree, where many other such sticks were already placed in the shape of the Konoha leaf symbol.

"Hmm, leaf symbol, complete." She mumbled to herself.

"Anko-sama!" the proctor appeared in front of the bench Anko had been reclining on.

"What is it?" Anko asked, rubbing a certain spot on her neck.

"We found three dead bodies, and they look weird." The proctor answered.

"Weird?" Anko asked, not liking where this was leading.

--At the scene of the crime—

_Damn, there isn't any mistaking it, this is _his_ handiwork._ Anko cursed silently. "You!" She pointed. "Go tell Hokage-sama about this, and tell him to send as many ANBU as he can spare to the Forest of Death, and get Captain Yamato!"

"What! Why?" the proctor questioned.

"This is very bad, just go do it, and be _very_ quick about it. I'm going after them." Both Anko and the proctor left in their respective directions.

_If he's here for the reason that I think he's here for, then Kami help them, no one else will be able to if I'm to late!_

--Back with Team Seven, en route to the tower—

"Darn, and just after I got all those traps set up too." Sakura 'complained' as the group ran on the path of tree branches Naruto was manipulating.

"Sorry, the deadline for all complaints was yesterday." Naruto said, slightly behind and to the side of Sakura.

Before Sasuke could add more to the mock argument, a very, _VERY_, large snake crossed his path.

"What the _fuck_ was _that_!" Sasuke yelled, jumping back, hand flying for his shuriken.

"Oh, did my pet snake scare you? I'm so not sorry, Uchiha Sasuke!" a man with a kusa hite-ate appeared on the head of the snake, flanked by his 'teammates'.

"Who the hell are you!?" Naruto demanded, katana drawn.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Uchiha Naruto?" The man replied, his eyes never leaving the group even though he was beginning to form handseals. "Stabilize the two for sealing, knock the girl aside if she gets in your way." The man ordered his 'teammates'. Before Naruto or Sasuke could even begin to react the men had already grabbed them, holding their arms far apart to prevent the boys from forming handseals themselves. What they _didn't_ anticipate was Naruto forming one handed seals.

"**Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan**!" Naruto shouted. A tree burst to life at Naruto's feet, ensnaring the ninja who had attempted to capture both himself and Sasuke, but leaving all three of the teammates unharmed on the ground.

"Truly impressive, Naruto-kun. I didn't anticipate you being able to use those techniques, so this is truly an added bonus!" the man on the snake commented, still staring the group down.

"What the hell do you …" before Naruto could finish his question, the man's neck had extended to an enormous length. The man bit Naruto on the neck, and the kanji for hell, surrounded by three comma marks appeared on Naruto's neck. The man released his grip on Naruto, who immediately fell, unconscious.

"What the hell did you do to Nii-chan?"Sasuke demanded, throwing kunai at his cousin's attacker.

Instead of answering, the man struck again, this time at Sasuke. The raven-haired Uchiha, however, didn't stick around to get struck like his cousin, instead, Sasuke grabbed Naruto and leapt away, forming handseals as he went.** "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu**!" Sasuke sent his fireballs at the man, trying to get as much distance between himself and this strange man as he could.

"A good attempt, Sasuke-kun, but it will take much more than that to make me flinch." The man retorted, his neck still lengthening to reach Sasuke. Sakura decided that enough was enough, she was stepping in.

"**Ranshinshō**!" Sakura shouted while grabbing the extended neck.

The results were instantaneous, but not what Sakura or the man expected. Because he could no longer properly control the direction of his movements, while the man had been attempting to turn around to deal with Sakura, he actually turned straight into Sasuke. Not missing a beat, the man took immediate advantage of the situation and bit Sasuke on the neck, the kanji for Heaven appearing surrounded by three comma marks. Like his cousin, Sasuke crumpled, unconscious, after the man let go. The man released the seal he had been holding, allowing his neck to snap back to normal length.

Sakura rushed over to Sasuke and Naruto, quickly checking them over. "What the hell did you do to them!? Just who the hell are you!?" Sakura demanded.

"I am Orochimaru of Akatsuki, and I've delivered the first part of a wonderful present to them that their brother refused. Tell them that when they wake up, and survive this exam. Of course, you will have to deal with my men, the Oto nin enrolled in this exam. When it is all over, I will be waiting for all three of you, I have incredible uses for natural medics like yourself!" Orochimaru stated, slowly sinking into the ground, taking his men with him.

Sakura gulped, she didn't know what Akatsuki was all about, but she had a feeling she didn't want to know. Working quickly, using the giant tree that Naruto had created, she set up camp for the team once again.

--Elsewhere in the Forest of Death—

Anko had been searching the forest for a half hour, and she was beginning to get desperate. _Damn, for all I know he could have already marked them by now, and he would have likely have left the forest immediately after he did._

"Anko-chan!"

"Yamato, you got my message?" Anko asked the ANBU captain.

"Hai, tell me, is the bastard really back?" Yamato questioned, using a branch to stop.

"There's no doubt about it, if he isn't in the forest, then he was within the last hour." Anko answered, again rubbing a certain spot on her neck. "Unfortunately, I think I have a good idea of why he's here, we need to find Team 7, and we need to find them quickly."

"Well, isn't this appropriate, that two of my discarded projects should come back to try to stop me?" a mocking voice asked, causing both the special jonin and the ANBU captain to spin around.

"Orochimaru, isn't this a pleasure, you should take that face off, it will give me so much more pleasure killing you than it would some nameless Kusa nin whose face you stole." Anko replied, drawing a kunai.

"Why Anko, you're so cold," Orochimaru peeled the face of the kusa nin off like a mask, still facing his two ex-experiments. "Aren't you happy at all to see me?"

"What are you doing here?" Yamato demanded, drawing his ANBU katana. "Are you here to assassinate Hokage-sama?"

"No, neither I nor Akatsuki have enough men to do that effectively right now, even combined, so I thought I might recruit some new ones from this town first." While Orochimaru was speaking, he used an effect of the curse seal on Anko, forcing her to drop to her knees in pain. "I found two, and they are perfect for what I have in mind, I even gave them both two going away presents. They will find their way to me, and from me to the Akatsuki leader. One more thing, don't end this exam prematurely. I have a team from my village entered in this exam, and I am having fun watching these kids learn from death. Don't spoil my fun, either of you, or believe that this village will fall!"

Before Yamato or Anko could recover, Orochimaru vanished.

_Where the hell am I?_

Naruto walked forward, in a black void, with no solid references to up or down, while scenes from his past floated by at random intervals. _Just what is going on here, first that snake-guy bit me, now this, just where is this going?_

After what seemed like forever, Naruto found himself standing in front of a very familiar gate, with smoke rising on the other side. _No, this is…!_

Without warning, a brilliant flash of light erupted in front of Naruto's eyes. When he opened them again, he found himself inside the Uchiha compound, two hours prior to its destruction. Standing beside him was Sasuke.

"Nii-san, how did you get here?" Naruto asked.

"The same way you got here, apparently. That hebi-teme got me too." Sasuke answered.

Before either of the cousins could question their present location any further, two figures walked through the main gate of the Uchiha compound, dragging the bodies of the guards behind them.

"This, this can't possibly be…!" Naruto started.

"Damn, I think that guy who got us is intentionally making us see this, he's trying to brainwash us!"

"**_Then I will not let him harm those whom have been entrusted into my care._**" A loud voice echoed over the entire scene, causing the image of the massacre to freeze.

"Who, what is this?" Sasuke stammered, both himself and Naruto searching for the source of the voice.

"**_You are both most interesting. Come visit me._**" The voice boomed again. This time, the scene of the massacre completely disappeared, and in its place appeared what seemed to be either a library or a well to do study. In the corner of this study was a desk, with two comfy looking bean bag chairs sitting in front of it.

"This looks like your Otou-san's study, and those bean bags were the ones we always sat in." Naruto commented, taking stock of his surroundings. Sasuke nodded in agreement, still searching for the source of the voice.

"**_Yes, I did base this room off of that one, however, this is not the same place._**" The large leather chair behind the desk spun around, revealing a red haired man with fox ears, red eyes, four whiskers on each cheek, and nine tails to be its occupant.

"Kyuubi! How the hell did you get out of the seal!" Naruto shouted, his hands reaching for a katana that wasn't there.

"**_Relax, kit. I still _am_ in the seal, this room is merely an extension of it. Hmm, it would seem that I should have killed that snake bastard when I had the chance, it would have saved both of you some unnecessary heartache. For this, I am sorry._**" Kyuubi, while he had been speaking, had risen from his chair and walked toward both Naruto and Sasuke, staring intently at a book.

"If you don't mind me asking, Kyuubi-sama, what are all of these books?" Sasuke asked, having relaxed slightly as he saw the kanji 'seal' on both of Kyuubi's cufflinks and shirt collar.

"**_These books contain all of the memories of both of you kits, as well as a few of my own._**" Kyuubi stated, turning the page in the book he was holding. "**_This one contains the images that that man tried to force you two to view. Yes, it would seem that the beings of chaos have made the first move, we are going to need to recruit the remaining Guardians to help. First, however, you two should rest, I will do some looking at this so-called 'cursed seal' to see what I can do about it, but the Heaven and Hell seals, you will be needing them._**"

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Naruto asked.

"**_Fear not, kit. Your rather interesting father knew exactly what he was doing when he sealed me, though I doubt he saw this particular turn of events. I have regained my sanity, and with it some of my powers. Now, let me be, I will need some time, and you two need rest._**" With a flick of his wrist, Kyuubi used a simple spell of hypnosis on both boys, and the bean bag chairs moved of their own accord to catch them.**_ Yes, sleep well, my kits, you have so little idea of just how close to the brink of darkness and death you came, and as long as you are in my care I will not allow something like this to happen again. Orochimaru, was it? You and your organization shall soon learn to fear the names of Kyuubi no Naru and Sharingan no Sasu!_**

**A/N: I am BACK! And it's good to be here! If any of you are confused by the fact that both Sasuke and Naruto are speaking with Kyuubi, remember what I said last time, the Heaven and Hell seals link their minds, so they _both_ might wind up getting some of Kyuubi's powers. Things are going to start to change from being a different version of canon next chapter, so be prepared! Also, I have _finely_ gotten my hands on an accurate list of jutsus, so expect to see more showing up. As always, constructive criticism is welcome, flames shall now be used to heat my room (hey, got to cut costs somewhere!), and I will do my best to respond to a few reviews next chapter. This is your ever burning author Shining Pheonix signing off. **


	17. Battle! The Sound Trio Attack

**Chapter 17: Battle! The Sound Trio Attack!**

--Team 7's camp, The Forest of Death—

Sakura leaned back, looking over her two unconscious teammates. _Their breathing has slowed, but it's still high._ Sakura assessed. It had been a day since Orochimaru attacked, and since then, both Naruto and Sasuke had showed little sign of improvement. Things weren't entirely looking down for the team, however, Naruto's traps had yielded results, giving the group two sets of scrolls. Sakura blinked, she had nearly fallen asleep sitting up. She hadn't slept a wink since Orochimaru had left, she had been to busy trying to keep both Sasuke and Naruto alive to sleep. Shortly after Orochimaru had bitten them, both of them had started to hyperventilate, and their heart rate had skyrocketed. _I don't have the skill to heal them, and I don't have a clue on how to remove these, and not getting any sleep isn't helping matters any._

Sasuke groaned, bringing Sakura jolting back to reality. Using water from her canteen, Sakura cooled a cloth, placing it on Sasuke's forehead. Again, after Sakura had placed the cloth, she started nodding, going for more than 30 hours without at least two hours sleep was not something she could do without serious amounts of caffeine, one of the few things she didn't have access to. A small crunching noise brought Sakura back to full alert instantly. Searching for the source of the sound, she found herself looking right into the eyes of a squirrel, which was chittering after an acorn that had happened to have fallen near the base of the tree, where Sakura had made camp. "Whew, don't spook people like that, squirrel-kun, you'll get yourself hurt." Sakura laughed out loud, betraying her own nervousness.

_Wait, acorn?!_ The shuriken left Sakura's fingers before she had even realized she had drawn it, showing herself just how much off she was. The shuriken never hit the squirrel, but it was successful in making it decide that there were easier nuts to gather than this one, so it scampered off.

A short distance away, the Oto trio was keeping a close watch on what had happened, only slightly disappointed that their plan hadn't worked. "Do you think she saw the tag?" the girl, Kin, asked.

"Not likely, I think that there is something else here." Dosu, the bandage wearing member of the group, replied.

"It doesn't really matter, our mission is to kill the younger two of the three Uchiha brothers, if the girl gets in our way, we'll kill her as well." The Aku wearing nin, Abumi, stated.

--Elsewhere—

Temari jumped through the tree branches, holding her drawn tessan with a death grip. _I know that scream was Naruto's, and that wave of emotional energy, it felt like Naruto and Sasuke at the same time. Whatever caused it, it means only one thing, they're in trouble._

--FLASHBACK TO PREVIOUS DAY—

Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro were staring down a group of rain ninja, the same rain ninja that they had crossed blades with back before the exams started.

"Heh, I told you that we would finish you here in the exams!" the largest rain ninja taunted.

"As I recall, I still have a score to settle with you bastards." Kankuro stated, drawing his puppet scroll.

"Feh, you think that your little marionette show is going to do you any good? Even if you attack with your puppet, you'll leave yourself exposed." One of the smaller rain ninja laughed.

"Why you-!" Kankuro started to respond, only to stop as Gaara placed his hand on his shoulder.

"That's enough, Kankuro-nii-san. I'll deal with these beings." Gaara stated, pulling the cork off the top of the gourd.

"You honestly think you can beat us? I'll kill you with one move!" the leader challenged. The ninja took the two large umbrellas off of his back, throwing them high into the air while forming handseals. "**Jōro Senbon**!"

As the nin shouted, hundreds of senbon needles poured out of hidden slots in the umbrellas, creating a rainstorm of the deadly needles, all directed with chakra. Before any of the needles could strike, however, they were stopped dead in their tracks with a tiny puff of sand, each puff of sand only big enough to just stop the needle and hold it in air.

"H-how is this possible? Those needles can't even be stopped by 5mm of tempered steel, but you stopped them with sand?" the ama nin rambled, the shock short-circuiting his brain.

"It's a technique that only I've ever mastered, and in many ways it is completely independent of my will." Gaara explained. "The sand moves to protect me, regardless if I wish to be protected or not. **Sabaku Kyū**."

Not giving his opponent could recover from the shock of his failed attack, Gaara caused sand to rise from the ground to ensnare all three ama ninja. Before Gaara could continue his lecture in pain any further, all three Suna siblings sensed a massive burst of emotional energy, coupled with a wave of unholy chakra.

_What the hell was that?! It felt like Naru-kun's emotions, maybe even his and Sasu-kun's, but what the hell was that chakra, it felt like pure evil!_ Temari thought, staring in the direction of the source of the burst.

"Temari-nee-san, go check it out, Gaara and I will follow you once we're done here." Kankuro offered, trying hard not to split his attention between the energy wave and the more immediate threat of the enemy in front of him.

"Alright, you guys better take care of yourselves." Temari said, managing to still get the last word in before dashing off, despite being rattled to the core.

Gaara brought his full attention back to his captured opponents. "Now, were was I?" he mused allowed.

The screams didn't end for a full two hours.

--Back in the present—

_I just hope that that Sakura girl can hold her own against any trouble heading their way until I get there!_ Temari thought, racing ever closer to the aura of her fiancé and his team.

--Team 7's camp—

Sakura brought her head back up for what felt like the millionth time today. She had nearly fallen asleep again, and she could tell that she was slipping further and further each time she nodded off. _If I go to sleep here and now, what's to stop these Oto guys from coming and killing us all while we're asleep?_ She questioned herself rhetorically.

"Well, it seems you aren't a completely useless lookout." A voice came from behind her, one that she recognized all too well from the beginning of the first exam.

_Speaking of the devil… _Sakura mused darkly. "If you guys think you're gonna get past me without a fight, you better think again." Sakura said, standing up and turning around to face the Oto trio.

"We don't want to fight you, our mission deals with just the Uchiha brothers. Wake them up for us and we'll leave you alone." Dosu ordered, staring the pink haired kunochi down.

"To bad, bandage-brains." Sakura retorted, drawing a kunai. "They aren't available at the moment, so you're gonna have to beat me to get to them!"

"If you expected us to take another step forward, you just bounced your last check at the bank of luck. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that a kunochi who lacks the physical fighting power to stand up to multiple opponents at once would use traps, and you didn't even hide yours very well. Look, recently turned earth, and grass doesn't grow like this when a tree is nearby." Abumi noted, pointing to each item in turn. "All in all, you are just a little girl who isn't even cut out to be a good shinobi!"

The Oto trio, believing they had seen through Sakura's traps, jumped over the grass. Sakura smirked, throwing her shuriken at the tree, slicing a nearly invisible strand of wire. Multiple logs fell out of the tree, catching the Oto ninja flat footed. _Shit, the obvious trap was a trick!_ Dosu mentally cursed, moving his sleeve to reveal his sound emitting device. Sakura's smirk dissolved as she saw the logs shatter, blowing splinters into the air.

"An excellent attempt, but such a low level weapon isn't enough to stop us!" Abumi said, the three Oto nin standing in the grass completely unharmed.

Sakura's smirk returned. "You guys like to use explosive tags, what do you guys think of this?" she said, throwing an impact shuriken into the grass. Far too late did Kin notice the massive amount of tiny explosive tags littered in the tall grass they were now standing in. The impact shuriken hit the ground, causing it and the small tags to explode. The resulting blast would have made Emperor Nero at the height of his madness proud.

"And they say that kawarimi is such a useless skill." Kin muttered, standing up from the previous resting place of a bush that the entire Oto team switched with.

"I'll admit, you almost had us, but this game must end, we must kill Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun before the end of this exam, and you are in our way." Dosu stated, staring Sakura down. Sakura gulped, the explosive field had been her last resort, she didn't have a trump card to fall back on.

_**This may be the end for me, but I've not punched my ticket quite yet!**_

Sakura drew a handful of shuriken, a fire suddenly in her eyes that shocked the ninja from hidden sound to the core. Hurling the shuriken at her opponents, Sakura dashed forward, drawing kunai with her now empty hands.

Abumi recovered first, using the last moment before the shuriken hit to activate his personal favorite move. "**Zankūha**!" Thrusting his hands forward, palm out, Abumi unleashed a gust of wind that blew the shuriken back at Sakura. Or what he thought was Sakura. Once the shuriken impacted with her, 'Sakura' disappeared with a puff of smoke, only to reveal a log. _She used Kawarimi?_ Abumi thought, suddenly nervous. Shuriken flew from Dosu's right, leaving him little room to dodge, but revealing Sakura's position at the same time. Kin managed to finally grab Sakura by the hair, not giving the Konoha kunochi any room to run.

"What's this? Your hair has a lot more luster than mine, are you trying to be a sexy ninja?" Kin asked rhetorically, pulling harder on said hair. "If you've got time to screw around with your hair, you've got time to train! Abumi, what do you say will kill those two in front of this boy chasing ninja?"

"Heh, that doesn't actually sound like a bad idea." Abumi responded, drawing two kunai.

As the Oto trio were battling Sakura, they had failed to notice the dark chakra that had begun to pour out of the seals on Naruto and Sasuke's necks.

--Kyuubi's Chamber—

Kyuubi snapped the book he was holding shut, then placed it back in its proper place on the shelf. **_Not this one either, it looks like the only way to get rid of the damn things is to use the 'Three Part Unsealer', and that can only be used from outside of the body._**

Kyuubi looked over at the two boys who had been placed under his care by fate. **_Damn karma, what the hell did they do to deserve this?_**

Even though Kyuubi had been able to drag both of their souls away from the darkness, Kyuubi was currently powerless to do much about the evil that was invading their bodies. While Kyuubi was lost in his dark musings, a book on a high shelf, one labeled 'Current Surroundings', worked its way loose of the shelf and attempted to make itself known rather forcefully. Kyuubi, being the mighty Yokai that he was, caught the book before it hit him without even looking up. Opening it, Kyuubi could see most of what was happening in the immediate area around Naruto. **_Kuso! The Oto bastards got here early, and the kit's are not in any shape to fight!_** Kyuubi inwardly cursed, trying to think of a way out of this situation.

Naruto slowly stirred, causing Kyuubi to quickly shut and hide the book. "Kyuubi, what's goin' on? How long have we been out?" Naruto asked, rubbing one eye.

Before Kyuubi could muster an effective answer that wouldn't involve needing to show Naruto what was going on outside, Sasuke also regained consciousness. "Feel like someone just smothered –yawn- with a massive dose of sleeping pills." Sasuke said, stretching.

The book in Kyuubi's hands forced itself open again, showing all three occupants of the study exactly what was happening outside.

"What the hell are they doing here, and what happened to Sakura-san?" Naruto questioned.

"More importantly, how do we get back in control of our bodies so we can deal with these bastards?" Sasuke continued.

Kyuubi sighed, there wasn't any going back now. "**Alright, I'll let you have control of your bodies. I'm warning you only once, however, so pay attention! The link that the paired seals cause does much more that just allowing you to speak to each other without opening your mouths, your senses, emotions, and any number of other things about yourselves can be transferred across the link, so be extra cautious.**"

With a flick of his wrist, Kyuubi sent the two young Uchihas flying back toward the world of the living.

--Team 7's camp—

Sakura gripped her last kunai. She had managed to get away from Kin by cutting her hair, but not before the bitch had ripped several strands out, drawing blood. What caused the most damage, however, was her interception of the blast of air that had been meant for Naruto and Sasuke. As it was, Sakura was lucky to even be standing, let alone still able to fight.

"Well, it seems that you have a lot more fight to you than we gave you credit for." Dosu commented. "But, sadly, you have reached your limit. It seems that we will have to kill you, then kill Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun." Dosu reached for the cloth that covered his right arm, preparing to use a sound technique that would cause massive damage to Sakura's vital organs.

"**Kamaitachi**!"

Before Dosu could even begin to attack he was blown off his feet by a gust of wind that bore razor sharp edges, causing several deep gashes all over his body. Temari stepped into the clearing, tessan drawn and killer intent simply _pouring_ off of her.

"You bastards were attempting to kill my fiancé, correct? Then it seems that I will just have to kill you first!" Temari unleashed another burst of wind from her fan, this time releasing senbon needles hidden in special compartments within the fan folds as well. Kin quickly fell to the assault, though she wasn't killed, simply knocked unconscious. Dosu, however, had recovered from the first assault and was launching one of his own, swinging a hard right hook. Temari folded her fan and used it as a shield, stopping Dosu's physical attack, but still getting hit by the high pitched waves released by the amplifying device.

Before Dosu or Abumi could take full advantage of the two girls being temporarily stunned, a wave of unholy chakra poured over them, forcing them to stop in their tracks.

"Sakura-san, Temari-chan, who the hell did this to you?" Naruto asked, the burn-like markings of Orochimaru's cursed seal spreading across both his and Sasuke's bodies.

Dosu stopped in his tracks. _That looks like…, but I thought he only placed that on his favorite subordinates!_

Abumi, who hadn't caught on to his comrade's distress, spoke up. "I did it, so what are you gonna do about it, jackass?"

Before either Uchiha could answer Abumi again raised his hands to unleash his jutsu. "**Zankūkyokuha**!" The blast of air blew chunks out of the tree, shredding it into a million pieces.

"You were aiming at what, now?" Sasuke asked, 5 meters to Abumi's right.

"How the hell did you get over there?" Abumi asked, thoroughly startled. _They both moved faster than the speed of sound while _carrying_ those two bitches! How the hell can they possibly do that?!_

Indeed, Naruto and Sasuke had carried both Sakura and Temari out of harms way faster than Abumi's attack could traverse the ten meters that had separated them initially.

"It would seem that you have been trying to harm two of our precious people, for that **YOU CAN NEVER BE FORGIVEN!**" Naruto shouted. As Naruto's rage kept building, the curse marks on his body kept shifting, and Naruto's body began to transform. Naruto's whiskers widened, his nails lengthened, his canines grew to a wicked length. Naruto's human ears disappeared, to be replaced by fox ears on the top of his head. To finish off his transformation, Naruto grew three fox tails, which swished around behind him.

As insane as Naruto's transformation was, Sasuke's was about just as insane, if not more so. Sasuke's hair grew long and shaggy, and a cross shaped scar formed across his nose. Sasuke's eyes gained their final pupil, indicating mastery of the normal Sharingan. Finally, Sasuke's nails also had lengthened, leaving them looking wickedly sharp.

Before Abumi could react to the rather violent transformation of his opponents, they had both disappeared again. Without warning, Abumi felt a sharp and rather violent pain as his arms were wrenched backwards, his shoulder joints nearly parted company with the ferocity of the move.

"These arms seam to be very precious to you, so we will teach you a lesson in pain by taking them away from you!" Sasuke announced, placing one foot on Abumi's back for leverage as he and Naruto twisted Abumi's arms in sharp 90 degree angles away from their proper alignments. Abumi, almost mercifully, passed out before he even had a chance to scream. Releasing Abumi's now mangled arms, Naruto and Sasuke turned their sights on Dosu. To their surprise, Dosu set his teams scroll on the ground in front of him and held up his hands in a sign of surrender.

"Don't attack me. I can see now what we were sent here to do, and my job with you is over for now. Allow me to gather my comrades and I will be on my way." Dosu said, never lowering his hands or taking his eyes off Naruto and Sasuke.

Sakura couldn't take her eyes off of them, either. _What just happened to them, it's like that within them is a force of good, and evil is trying to pervert it to its own purpose!?_

Naruto nodded towards Dosu and motioned to the two downed Oto ninja.

"Take your garbage with you, and if you cross our path again we will kill you without a second thought." Naruto said, his features slowly, very slowly, returning to normal. Dosu quickly picked up Abumi and Kin, still never taking his eye off of Naruto or Sasuke, even if they were powering down. Within five minutes Dosu and his comrades were gone.

--30 minutes later—

Gaara and Kankuro had finally arrived, bearing both scrolls and a story of three Ama Shinobi who had dared to attack three innocent children in a back ally.

"I can't say you guys don't look any worse for the wear, but at least you aren't lying in a gutter." Kankuro commented as Naruto used some of his knowledge of medicine to patch both Temari and Sakura up.

"What took you guys so long, I would have thought that you would come and help out as soon as you felt our chakra?" Sasuke asked, pulling out supplies as his cousin asked for them.

"Well, we would have, but we still had three loose ends to tie up, the three that we didn't have time to properly deal with before the exams began." Gaara stated simply.

"You guys found them and fought them?" Sakura asked, fixing what was left of her hair into an acceptable position.

"Let's just say that they aren't going to be bothering anyone else for a long time." Kankuro replied.

Gaara took a closer look at Naruto's neck, noticing the mark. "So someone hit you guys with one of the forbidden seals." It was a statement, not a question. Naruto nodded anyway, closing down his Shōsen Jutsu that he had used to heal Temari's ear.

"Yeah, and I think we bumped into Orochimaru as well, but I can't prove it." Naruto replied, helping Temari to her feet.

"Well, if that's the case, then the sooner we get to the tower the better, we can't have a guy that dangerous running around unchecked." Temari said, sheathing her tessan and staying as close to Naruto as she could. _We saved each others lives, but he's still in worse shape than he'll ever admit, not even to himself. If anyone can keep an eye on him, it's me._ She thought. _Besides, I couldn't bare the thought of loosing him now._

"Let's get going then, it's still a good seven miles to the tower." Sasuke said, stretching a little.

"You might as well relax, the exam is as good as over now." A voice said, stopping all the Genin in their tracks.

**A/N: Wow. Never before have I had to fight like this to get a chapter written. It seems my muse took a vacation to Europe and forgot to tell me. Anyway, I hope with the return of my muse to get back on a semi-regular writing schedule. Also, I wish to apologize for not listing jutsu translations last chapter, so I am placing the translations after my closing notes in every upcoming chapter. As always, constructive criticism is welcome, flames shall be noted and added to my slowly growing collection. This is your one and only Shining Phoenix, signing out.**

**  
Jutsu**

**  
Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan **- Wood Release Secret Technique: Birth of Dense Woodland – a technique that can only be used with the mokuton bloodline, causes a huge tree to grow from any soil nearby that can be manipulated by the user freely.

**Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu** - Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique – a fire element move that sends multiple spheres of fire in any direction that the user desires. Sasuke occasionally hides shuriken in the fireballs in the anime.

**Ranshinshō** - Important Body Points Disturbance – the user uses either the excess electricity in the body or converts a small amount of chakra into electricity and then hits the opponents brainstem with it. The electrical signals sent from the brain to the rest of the body are scrambled, causing uncontrollable movement. Tsunade uses this on Kabuto during the Sannin battle in the anime.

**Jōro Senbon - **Sprinkling Needles – This technique causes senbon needles hidden in special slots in umbrellas to fly out, which are controlled by chakra for additional accuracy. The needles at full power can penetrate 5mm of tempered steel, but don't have enough power to penetrate Gaara's sand shield.

**Sabaku Kyū** - Desert Coffin – a move that Gaara uses to capture and immobilize his enemies by completely encasing them in sand.

**Zankūha – **Decapitating Air Waves – Abumi sends high pressure sound waves out through the special devices in his arms to damage his opponents.

**Kamaitachi - **Cutting Whirlwind Technique - Using her fan, Temari can create concentrated gusts of wind mixed with chakra, creating a windstorm that slices through objects in a targeted area. Temari can control the windstorm with chakra, allowing her to catch her opponents in slicing tornadoes.

**Zankūkyokuha** – Extreme Decapitating Air Waves – a stronger version of **Zankūha.**

Shōsen Jutsu – Mystical Palm Technique – an all purpose medical technique that can be used for anything from healing to minor surgery. Both Tsunade and Kabuto employ this technique during the Sannin battle in the anime.


	18. We Regret to inform you

**Chapter 18: We Regret to Inform You…**

--The Central Tower of the Forest of Death—

"So, Orochimaru is here in Konoha, hardly surprising." Jiraiya stated, staring out a window in the upper floor of the tower.

"Unfortunately, since he has appeared, we cannot allow the exam to continue any further. Far too many of our assets are tied up in proctoring this exam." Sarutobi replied, taking a good drag on his pipe while discussing the current situation with his subordinates.

Anko piped up. "He threatened to attack Konoha if we ended this exam prematurely, but I'm not certain how much of that was bluff and smoke."

"Likely most of it. Neither he nor Akatsuki have enough resources to make an attack on us effective. Even if he isn't totally bluffing, it won't make much difference because we can pull reinforcements from Suna." Jiraiya reminded. "Anyway, what happened to Team 7? You didn't just leave them out there by themselves after Orochimaru told you what he did to them?"

Anko looked up at the Sannin. "No, I asked…"

--With Team 7 and the Suna Sibs—

"Kakashi-san, Yamato-san, what are you guys doing here?" Sakura asked the ANBU captains.

Kakashi grimaced as he looked over the two teams before answering. Sakura and Temari both sported a lot of bloodstains on their clothing, not all of it theirs. Sasuke and Naruto were barely standing, the fever that they suffered through had dried them out, leaving them weakened. Gaara and Kankuro were in the best shape out of the entire group, having only small scratches were the local flora had decided to make itself rather forcefully known, the only real blood on them was from their encounter with the Ama nin the day before. "We were sent to find you guys and get you to the Tower. The exams are over, Orochimaru's resurfacing is too important to ignore and too many resources are tied up in this exam." Kakashi replied, trying to decide how to get these kids to the Tower without exposing them to any more danger than absolutely necessary.

"Why end the exams? All you really need to do is just reshuffle things a little to free up the people that you need." Sasuke said, taking a long drink to quench the thirst of his dehydrated body.

"There are several reasons, but the main one being that there are too many genin in this exam to keep track of without a large amount of personnel. Can you guys move by yourselves?" Yamato asked, eyeing Naruto and Sasuke critically.

"I think we can get to the tower without much problem." Naruto replied, fishing around in his pack for his canteen. Finding the offending water container, Naruto downed a fourth of the contents and splashes a bit on his face, trying to cool off a little. _Damn, I don't want to know how bad the fever had to have been if I'm still burning up. If we don't get out of this forest soon, even if the local animal life and the enemy teams don't get us we'll eventually die from dehydration at this rate._

Sasuke, reacting to his cousin's unspoken thoughts, spoke up. "We really should get going."

"Okay, follow us. Most of the other participants will have been rounded up by now." Yamato instructed, motioning for the group to follow him through the forest.

--Somewhere in Konoha—

"So, it appears that they are going to call off the exam." A young looking man in an Akatsuki cloak stated simply.

"This will make things more difficult, Orochimaru's plan banked heavily on the leaf dancing to his tune. We might have to use more force than we initially had allotted to kill that old man." Deidera replied, pulling on the rim of her hat to keep it from blowing away in the wind. "That damned old fool knows far too much about The Gate and our plans for us to allow him to live any longer."

"Why are we expending all this energy to make a forced attack on this village, a quick and simple assassination in the night would be far more effective, and much cheaper?" Deidera's companion asked, watching the town from under the low hanging brim of his hat.

"Simple, the old man is too well protected from simple assassination, if we try to assassinate him we first have to remove his protection. Orochimaru's plan can still work, and it is by far the easiest to execute of any of our other plans that we could come up with." Deidera responded, releasing the brim of her hat.

"Orochimaru, all that bastard is good for is developing kinjutsu. Even the seals he brought to us could have just as easily been obtained through other means. He isn't even that powerful, I know for a fact that the elder Uchiha could kick his ass from here to the moon and back again without breaking a sweat. I don't see why the masters don't let me turn him into one of my puppets, at least then he could be of some true use."

"Simple, he is the only one who knows the true whereabouts of Orochi-no-hebi, we can't kill him until he tells us. Besides, he can still prove semi-useful at times. As long as he places his Cursed Seal on the younger two Uchiha brothers, they will come to us, instead of us having to hunt them down and recruiting them the traditional way." Deidera responded.

Deidera's companion did not reply immediatly, instead he seemed to be scratching a spot on his chest, as if agitated and trying to open it.

"Come, Sasori, we have some arrangements to make if we are going to salvage Orochimaru's plan." Deidera said, breaking the silence and tension. Sasori nodded and turned, following his partner.

--The Forest of Death central Tower—

With Kakashi and Yamato's help, reaching the tower was a simple matter. The group reached the entrance of the tower within an hour of hard hiking.

"We'll leave you guy's with the other students. Medics will be here within the hour." Kakashi said in parting. Yamato and Kakashi left after watching the group walk in one of the student doors.

Inside, Naruto and Sasuke met a large crowd, just about every student who had passed the first exam. "Looks like there's a handful still missing, and I don't see those Oto bastards anywhere." Naruto commented before finding a spot among the crowd to sit down.

"Just as well, there's no point in starting a fight with them here in this crowded room." Gaara said, sitting down next to him.

"What are we going to do now? Do you think that they'll pull us back into normal service to try and track down Orochimaru?" Sakura asked as the rest of the group sat down in a rough circle next to the wall of the large, circular room.

"So you guy's know what's going on, would you mind cluing us in as well?" Rock Lee asked, walking up to the group with a squirrel on his shoulder.

"We don't mind, sit down. Where did you get the squirrel?" Temari replied.

"I found this little guy about to be blown up by an explosive note that someone had taped to his back. I ripped it off of him and made an instant friend." Lee answered, scratching the squirrel on its back.

"Forget the squirrel, what's going on?" Neji asked, sitting down in the circle next to Lee.

"A traitor is back in the village, and not for any friendly reasons." Sasuke answered, again drinking water out of his canteen. "He attacked us for whatever reason and then ran off. Later, he sent some of his subordinates to finish us off, but we managed to kick their asses. Apparently, this guy is an 'S' class missing-nin with a lot of bad friends, so they're rounding all of us up to end the exam. At least, that's what we've been told."

"That's more than what those ANBU guys told us, they just said 'We have orders for all of the participants from Hokage-sama, please follow us.'" Tenten commented.

"Speaking of the old man," Naruto started, pointing to a platform at the opposite end of the room. "It looks like he's gonna make an announcement."

Sarutobi cleared his throat to get the crowd's attention. After everyone had stopped talking, he began his formal announcement.

"Participants in this year's Journeyman Ninja Selection Exam, we regret to inform you…"

**A/N: Little action, I know, but hopefully now you're beginning to see some of the internal politics and motives behind the actions of the Akatsuki. My apologies for ending on a cliffhanger, but I just wanted this chapter _done_, I had to re-write it three times before I liked it. Also, I have an apology to make about last chapter, it seems that many of you noted that Abumi is actually his surname and Zaku is his personal name. This problem is due to a mistake in the translation of the manga that I had at the time, which listed his name as Zaku Abumi, supposedly with surname first. Thank you everyone who noted this and brought it to my attention. As always, constructive criticism is welcome, flames shall be noted and be added to my nest of ashes. Your ever burning author, this is Shining Pheonix signing out.**


	19. Prepare For Battle!

Chapter 19: Prepare for Battle

**Chapter 19: Prepare for Battle!**

--??—

"So, Orochimaru's plan is falling apart after all." A man with short spiky blonde hair wearing an Akatsuki cloak that effectively hid the lower half of his head stated, staring out a window.

"If that's the case, do you want me to step in?" a figure wreathed in shadows asked.

"I really couldn't care less about what happens to Konoha as a whole, but I want that old man dead, and I want those two kids in our hands now, if not sooner. Go, make sure the old man dies, and if Orochimaru happens to conveniently 'vanish' during the commotion, well, I for one will not say a thing."

"As for the children?"

"Ah, yes, do make sure that nothing happens to them. If they are in any way damaged I will be _very_ upset. If anything happens, it sure as hell better not be you behind it, Zero."

"Don't worry, master," Zero said as he moved out of the shadows, his long blonde hair swirling around him as he moved. "I will make sure that nothing happens to them." With that parting statement, Zero left the room, revealing a large package strapped to his back.

"I won't worry, Zero. I know that you always keep your word." The leader of the Akatsuki continued to watch the birds flying around outside his window, content in the knowledge that his right hand man would see his orders out to the letter.

--Forest of Death Central Tower--

"Participants of this year's Chuunin Selection Exam, we regret to inform you that, due to circumstances outside of our control, this exam must be ended prematurely. We ask that all of you be patient and wait for your Jonin instructors to arrive before leaving this tower. Any who need medical attention may see one of the on-duty medics." Sarutobi stepped back from the small pedestal, looking over the shocked group of genin.

"Some of the kids who really need treatment aren't going to go to the medics, they'll say that some of the others need the attention worse than they do. Itachi's team is pretty trashed, but knowing them they aren't even going to twitch until he gets here." Yamato commented quietly as three or four genins out of the entire group stood up to see the medic-nins at the far end of the room.

"You're right, but most of the Konoha Jonin are already here, so they'll either be getting treatment as soon as he gets here or getting an earful until they do." Kakashi agreed.

On the opposite side of the room, the genin in question were discussing that same subject.

"You guys really should get checked out. After all, you don't suffer a sustained hundred plus degree fever without suffering some kind of damage." Sakura stated.

"It's not that we don't want to get checked out, it's just that I don't think that the medics will be able to do much for us right now. We really should try to talk to Tsunade-Obaa-chan, she'd be able to help us out." Naruto countered, pointedly not standing up.

"If nothing else, the medics would at least be able to get you two hydrated." Neji remarked in his usual monotone. "I noticed that you were both consuming large amounts of water, a classic symptom of someone who has been dehydrated."

Naruto looked around the room, noticing that several Jonin had arrived and retrieved their students. Turning toward the medics, Naruto noticed Itachi waving the group over. "Nii-san's here already." Naruto said as he stood up. Itachi looked over his battered team as they walked over, not liking what he saw.

"Okay, am I sure I want to know what happened to you guys?" Itachi asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

"Well, it's like this…" Naruto began, drawing a deep breath as he prepared to give a full detail report on everything that happened to the team since Itachi had let them loose to have lunch the day they signed up for the exams.

"Never mind, I'll hear all about it later, but in the meantime, you guys all look like you could stand a good run in with the medics. Don't argue, consider it a direct order." Itachi said, cutting off both Naruto's explanation and his protests about needing treatment.

After a quick check in with the medics, who prescribed a special pill that allowed the body to absorb water quickly for Naruto and Sasuke and basic first aid for the minor injuries on everyone else, the group set off to a more private location to read their instructions from the Hokage as well as to perform a quick debriefing.

"Okay, let me see if I have this straight," Itachi began after hearing the entire story from the Genin. "You were attacked by Orochimaru, who placed a pair of seals on both of you." Pointing at both Naruto and Sasuke. "After which, you _both_ met Kyuubi, who came up with a possible way to remove Orochimaru's Cursed Seal. In the meantime, you," Pointing at both Sakura and Temari. "Were confronted by Orochimaru's subordinates, the Oto ninjas. After you defeated them, Kakashi and Yamato brought you to the tower. That about covers it, right?"

Receiving affirmative nods from the group, Itachi sighed. _Okay, don't panic, it's not totally hopeless, the asshole didn't count on Kyuubi coming up with a way to get rid of the Cursed Seal, and neither of them are displaying any secondary symptoms of the Seal yet. There's still time to keep the proverbial kitsune in the bag._

"Okay, good news/bad news time." Itachi had everyone's undivided attention instantly. "Good news, we can get rid of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal. Bad news, we don't have time to do so at the moment."

"What do you mean, we don't have time to remove the seals? It just takes a few seconds to remove seals, a couple minutes at the most." Naruto asked, slightly agitated.

Itachi sighed, just _knowing_ that bad things were going to happen before this was all over and done with. "While the actual _removal_ is, as you said, rather quick, the problem lies with the fact that removing such a powerful seal places a remarkable strain on the body, so you'll likely be unconscious for several days after the removal, and those are several days that we do not have. Konoha is now in a state of emergency, and we need all the active shinobi squads we can get. The Hokage has ordered us to search the village for any trace of the nuke-nin organization Akatsuki and, if we can, capture any member of that organization that we encounter."

"That seems like a pretty tall order for even some jounin, what good are we going to be able to do to stop these guys?" Gaara asked, his eyes narrowing as he recalled the group's previous encounter with Akatsuki, and the genocide that had followed shortly after.

"The plan," Itachi started. "Is that we avoid actually facing these guys head-to-head. Now, here's what we'll do…"

**A\N: Sorry it took so long, but I am back. Another apology is due for the length of the chapter, I just got increadiby tired of beating my head against the writers block wall at the end of this chapter. However, expect the next chapter to come soon (Hopefully within the week!). That said, I still like everyones feedback, so keep the reviews coming, and flames will be viewed, extinguished, and added to my now massive nest of ashes. This is your one and only Shining Pheonix, signing off for now.**


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